The Irish Passport

Just below the surface of modern Ireland, a parallel world exists with its roots in pre-Christian belief. Irish fairies aren't like Tinkerbell - they're more like a supernatural mafia. So be careful what you say, because as the story goes, they're probably listening. Tim talks to one of Ireland's last seanchaí or story-teller historians, who once managed to get a highway diverted to prevent the felling of a fairy bush. We also hear about modern traditions from the streets of Galway as the Celtic New Year Samhain festival is underway. Meanwhile, Naomi discovers that fairies can even make an appearance in modern politics, thanks to Ireland's unique clan of rural populists, the Healy Rae political dynasty of County Kerry.

Ireland has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. Banned unless the woman's life is in serious danger, it carries a 14-year prison sentence. Rumblings of change are beginning, but some a campaign could open up ugly political fault lines. Why is Ireland like this? Tim and Naomi explore the strange and surprising backstory to Ireland's constitutional abortion ban. Tim hears from a journalist who snuck contraband condoms into 1970s Dublin. We hear from Ireland's 31-year-old health minister on what change he wants to see, while Naomi meets a 17 year-old student who has swapped her textbooks for a megaphone in the pro-choice campaign. Just don't let her Catholic school find out...

Have you heard that the Irish were slaves? If so, you may have been targeted with political propaganda from the American far right. Naomi speaks to actress and writer Azie Dungey about how Irish history is being abused for a political agenda in the United States, while Tim asks two experts in the topic about the truth behind the internet myth. We hear from American journalist Traci White who set out to investigate why the meme was appearing on her Facebook page, while Irish Senator Aodháin Ó Ríordáin tells us what the Trump administration needs to know about Irish-American history. Featuring: ‘When the Wick is Gone’ by the Pangolins

Ireland's great famine was the worst peacetime disaster in 19th century Europe. It shaped both Ireland and the world. And it remains such a political bombshell that people still can't agree on what to call it. We explore the hidden history of the mass starvation, from its little-known role in the origins of modern journalism to its surprising link to a Native American tribe. Tim discovers a piece of 1840s Ireland in the middle of Manhattan, while Naomi asks what lessons should be applied to current events today.

Applications for Irish passports surged in the last year, largely from people in Britain and Northern Ireland. Who are the new 'Brexit Irish'? We meet them in this new episode and hear their motivations for claiming their Irish identity. We also speak to the Irish ambassador who found himself in the eye of the storm as applications soared. Tim hits the streets of Galway to investigate what ordinary Irish citizens think of the newcomers -- and is taken aback by what he hears.  Discover why Ireland has such a large diaspora in the first place, and the key role they played in the foundation of the state.

Ireland and Europe: what is Ireland's future in the EU now that its neighbour the United Kingdom is leaving? Is the so-called Irexit at all realistic? We explore Ireland's relationship with the continent now and in the future and unpick why Ireland differs so much from Britain in its history as part of Europe. We speak to Ireland's most, and perhaps only, well-known eurosceptic Ray Bassett, as well as Ireland's Minister for European Affairs and the ordinary people of Dublin to understand Ireland and Europe at this crucial moment in history.

Who are Ireland's elites? That question was once easily answered, but not since independence upended the entire social order! In this episode, Naomi visits a castle in Dublin that has been the home of one family for 35 generations -- and finds the current heir still feels he's not accepted as one of Ireland's own. Tim investigates how his own ancestors went from being aristocrats' servants to rebels in one generation. Or perhaps they were rebels all along? We speak to an expert who says Ireland today is in denial about having elites, when they are hiding in plain sight. Find out who they are in our chat with elitism expert Dr. Ciaran O’Neill.

For decades, Ireland was synonymous with Catholic state control - but the last 30 years have seen a new cultural climate take hold in the country, and a furious backlash has broken out against the legacies of the Church's institutional stranglehold. We'll be looking at how the Church became so powerful in the Irish Republic in the first place, and the reasons behind its dramatic fall from grace in recent times. We'll be talking to the formidable local historian Catherine Corless, who exposed institutional abuse and cover-ups on a massive scale in 2014, and we'll also interview journalists and doctors at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, which inspired public outrage when the state almost gave it over to an order of nuns with a very questionable past.

Why is there a knowledge gap about Ireland in the UK? As journalists scrambled to put together basic facts about Northern Ireland in the wake of the 2017 UK election, the country's blind spot about one of its own constituent nations became painfully evident. The Brexit debate further highlighted that many were unaware of the sovereign independence of the UK's closest neighbour, the Irish Republic. We talk to journalists and authors about the phenomenon, while Naomi digs up some rather worrying evidence from a contemporary UK school history book.

Irish: a rare and ancient language that is spoken from the streets of Canada to the corridors of power in the European Union. This episode delves into why the language is such a powerful national symbol for Ireland, its fraught history, and how it's still a point of political strife today.