We, The Irish

EP1: She’s Away with the Fairies

As people get older, they tend to change or reassess some of their life choices. Often, this can begin to a lead in change in personality, a change in your outlook on life and a change in what gets you up in the morning. This is a totally natural part of aging and gaining life experience, it’s a completely normal thing to do. But what if those around you didn’t see it as normal. What if they thought it was so abnormal that they suspected this wasn’t your doing. What if they believed this was a a result of interference by an daoine maith, the fairy people? What consequences would you have to pay? How would your life pan out? Well these are questions which the life of one Tipperary women, from a town called Ballyvadlea, answers for us. Music by Ryhan O’Halloran. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

EP2: History Repeats Itself

Sometimes, people are moulded by the time they live in.Others, mould the time.It was a time of hope.A time of wonder.But more importantly, it was a time of revolution.It was 1916.Across the world, people were driven to the slaughter by their oppressors, both domestic and foreign.A symbol was looked for across the world that one day, small nations might be free.From a small village in North Kerry, a light shown bright.Music by Ryhan O’Halloran. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

EP3: An Infectious Woman

In 1869, in a town called Cookstown, County Tyrone, a woman was born.This woman was born into poverty as a result of being the child of famine survivors.In the hope of a better life, in 1883 she left the Emerald Isle, got on a boat and set sail for New York.There, she would live with an uncle and aunt who had left during the famine and begin to make a life for herself.It was in New York, she rose to eternal fame. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

EP4: After You Mick

Irish people have never been strangers to war, battle, sacrifice or death.By the early 1900s, the flowing of blood was a much a common sight as the flow of streams.Countless rebellions, battles and mass graves are a common sight.The people, hardened by the experiences life continues to through at them, never back down from a challenge.Coupled with this, is a confused sense of identity, having been under British rule for 800 years, but having rebelled at every opportunity, there is a mixed feeling going into world war 1 of the role the Irish should play.Some stay home as an act of rebellion to the crown, others suit up and go to fight for the rights of small nations across the globe and others get their boots on and march proudly to the front lines under the guidance of the British crown.From Ballincollig, county Cork, one man doesn’t just march, he glides into battle.This is his story. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

EP5: A Life Less Ordinary

Often, we find it easy to blame the instances in our early life for being the reasons preventing us from where we want to (or believe we should) be.We allow the circumstances we are born into be the chains to hold us from self-actualisation, self-liberation and self-determination.And if not that, we find other reasons or people around us to be the reasons for our lack of inner pride or belief.True, they can play a part, but what if the most dire negative circumstances could be used as a spring board rather than a cage?Where could you guide your life to? How far could you reach?Well, it’s the life of a Limerick woman who shows us, life is about opening doors, not locking them.This is her story. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.