Shows
Undercover IrishAn Irish Christmas: Brush the Floor and Clean the Hearth🎥 Watch the Song from this Episode Huge GRMMA to Grace! 🔗 https://youtu.be/BJyO6xRL5KA?si=8dUh09AjWVaT78Ow Christmas in Ireland — Am na Nollag — is not a single tradition. It is a layering of customs: Christian belief laid gently over practices far older than Christianity itself. In this episode of Undercover Irish, we explore how Irish Christmas traditions preserve ideas of survival, fire, hunger, and renewal — stretching back to the solstice and the rebirth of the sun. Using material from the Dúchas Schools' Collection, traditional song, and Irish fol...
2025-12-2214 min
Undercover IrishGuerilla Gaeilge: The Irish Hidden in Our English (Hiberno-English, Irish Language Survival, and Hidden Gaeilge Grammar)Guerilla Gaeilge: The Irish Hidden in Our English Undercover Irish Podcast In this episode of Undercover Irish, we explore how Hiberno-English contains hidden grammar, structures, and ways of thinking that come directly from Gaeilge. From phrases like "I do be" and "I'm after doing" to "ye / yiz / youse" and the Irish habit of answering questions without yes or no, this episode argues that Irish is hiding in plain sight inside English. This is not just a linguistic curiosity. It's a story of survival, resistance, mockery, and internalised shame, stretching from colonial schools and...
2025-12-1228 min
Undercover IrishAn Irish Guerrilla Commander and "The Murder Machine" An Irish Guerrilla Commander and "The Murder Machine" What This Episode Covers In this episode of Undercover Irish, we dig beneath the legendary image of Tom Barry — the famed guerrilla commander of Kilmichael whose tactics are still studied in British and US military circles — and uncover the deeper story hiding in plain sight within his autobiography Guerilla Days in Ireland. We explore how Barry's early life, shaped by the British National School system founded in 1831, reveals the psychological core of colonial rule: the dismantling of Irish national consciousness through language suppression, historical erasure, and identity engineering. Along the way, we examine: Tom Barry's own admission that ...
2025-12-0127 minUndercover IrishThe Irish Way to Understand Time In this episode, we dive into Ireland's Hidden Curriculum through something deceptively ordinary: the names of the months. By shifting your meon — your mindset — we explore how time itself becomes a doorway to the deeper Irish worldview. We look at: Why the English month names are Roman imports that don't match Irish reality How the Irish (Latin-influenced) months begin to re-root the year in our own landscape The powerful native Irish names — Bealtaine, Lúnasa, Samhain — and what they truly mean The older Celtic two-season cycle beneath them How Irish reveals an extraordinary way of seeing time, land, and story By the end, you'll never look at the calendar the same way agai...
2025-11-2320 min
Undercover IrishErased Leader: Margaret Buckley and Ireland's Counter-RevolutionErased Leader: Margaret Buckley and Ireland's Counter-Revolution 🎨 Exclusive Artwork for Patrons I've created original artwork based on Margaret Buckley's historic portrait — designed to repopularise her image and bring her back into Ireland's visual memory. Patrons can download, print, share, post, and use the artwork freely. 👉 Download the Margaret Buckley Artwork: https://www.patreon.com/posts/margaret-buckley-143585337?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link 👉 Download the PDF Pack: https://www.patreon.com/posts/downloadable-pdf-143585763?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source...
2025-11-1431 minUndercover IrishHow the Irish Language Finds Connection in the Dark: Samhain and Uaigneas🎧 How the Irish Language Finds Connection in the Dark: Samhain and Uaigneas When the Irish speak of loneliness, they don't just name a feeling — they map it. This episode explores uaigneas, Samhain, and how the Irish language finds connection even in the dark. Show Notes As the fires of Samhain fade and the year exhales, the world feels still — that quiet pause between life and death, light and dark. In Irish, this season is Mí na Samhna, a time to honour the dead, light candles, and remember what connects us. But it's als...
2025-11-0522 min
Undercover IrishHow Cork's Streets Became a Battleground for Ireland's IdentityShow Notes: How Cork's Streets Became a Battleground for Ireland's Identity Podcast: Undercover Irish Episode Title: How Cork's Streets Became a Battleground for Ireland's Identity Part 2 AVAILABLE HERE https://www.patreon.com/posts/empire-strikes-142363777?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Description: In this episode, we journey through the city of Cork — its streets, its story, its struggle — to explore how street names became a contested space in the years of Ireland's path to independence and beyond. What may look like a mundane map...
2025-10-291h 01Undercover IrishHow A GAA Crest leads us to the Battle of Fontenoy🎙️ Episode Title: How a GAA Crest Leads Us to the Battle of Fontenoy In this episode of Undercover Irish, we follow the trail of a symbol — from the familiar GAA crest of Limerick to the Treaty Stone on the banks of the Shannon, and further still to the cry that echoed through the fields of Fontenoy in 1745: "Cuimhnigh ar Luimneach! Remember Limerick!" What begins as a look at a sporting logo becomes a journey through Irish memory, resilience, and identity — how the imagery on a GAA crest carries centuries of history, from the Treaty of Limerick...
2025-10-2331 minUndercover IrishHow Ice Cream is linked to the Presidential Election🎙️ Episode Title: How Ice Cream is Linked to the Presidential Election In this episode of Undercover Irish, we explore an unexpected but deeply Irish connection — how ice cream and the Presidential Election are linked through language, lore, and story. From the words we use to describe sweetness and celebration, to the symbolic meanings behind Irish terms of leadership and belonging, we uncover how the Irish language shapes not just how we speak, but how we think and feel about who we are. This episode is also a tribute to the late Manchán Magan, w...
2025-10-1521 min
Undercover IrishIreland as a Body: Place Names, Mythology, and Indigenous WorldviewsWhat if Ireland wasn't just a land to live on—but a living body itself? In this episode of Undercover Irish, we trace the ancient impulse to personify the landscape, exploring how Indigenous cultures—from Celtic Ireland to Native America and Aboriginal Australia—map meaning onto mountains, rivers, valleys, and plains by imagining them as parts of a living, breathing being. This episode blends mythology, linguistics, and cultural survival in a journey that reawakens our connection to place. Come with us—and learn to read the land as you would a beloved face.
2025-06-2425 minUndercover IrishBuilding Up And Tearing England Down; The Social History In A BalladBuilding Up and Tearing England Down! In this jam-packed episode we dig into Dominic Behan's razor-sharp ballad of the same name, tracing how a few mighty verses capture a century of Irish labour on Britain's building sites and railways. First we pit two iconic renditions against one another—Christy Moore's pub-roar 1969 and The Mary Wallopers' lament of the 2020s. From there we zoom out: Ballads as people's textbooks – Why songs remember the names, jokes and grievances that official syllabi leave out, and how oral tradition keeps working-class history alive. The Irish navvy in Britain – Long j...
2025-06-1332 minUndercover IrishThe Truth about Munster and Meath: Uncovering Ireland's Lost Directions🎙️ The Truth about Munster and Meath: Uncovering Ireland's Lost Directions What do a New Zealand haka in Limerick and the ancient kingdoms of Ireland have in common? More than you might think. In this episode of Undercover Irish, we begin with a defining moment in Irish sporting history: the All Blacks performing the haka at Thomond Park in 2008. But have you ever stopped to ask—what does "Thomond" actually mean? And what ancient map of Ireland lies buried beneath the one we know today? We trace a path back through time, cutting...
2025-06-0629 minUndercover IrishAn Bata Scóir and Its International Reach Episode 5 – An Bata Scóir and its International Reach In this powerful and reflective episode of Undercover Irish, we dive into the brutal colonial legacy of language suppression, beginning with the story of An Bata Scóir — the notched tally stick used to punish Irish children for speaking their native tongue. More than a tool of discipline, An Bata Scóir represents the systemic violence inflicted by the British Empire in its efforts to erase the Irish language as part of its wider colonisation strategy. But Ireland wasn't alone. This episode explores how the island served as a testing ground for linguistic oppression — experiments that would later echo across the ...
2025-05-3128 minUndercover IrishSkorts, Shorts and the Three Stripe Affair That Rocked Cork GAA – Part 2 In Part 2 of Skorts, Shorts and the Three Stripe Affair That Rocked Cork GAA, Undercover Irish dives into the post-1977 fallout of Cork's All-Ireland hurling triumph. Follow the dramatic twists as Adidas shifts focus to Kerry GAA, O'Neills fights back on the pitch and in the courts, and the battle over branding turns personal. This episode also bridges past and present, spotlighting the modern "Skorts not Shorts" campaign by the Camogie players of Tomás McCurtains GAA in London, and uncovers a striking 1935 parallel in the long history of attempts to control women's sportswear. A gripping blend of sport, style, and social change.
2025-05-2426 min
Undercover IrishSkorts, Shorts and the Three Stripe Affair that rocked Cork GAA Part 1🎧 Skorts, Shorts and the Three Stripe Affair That Rocked Cork GAA – Part 1 | Undercover Irish Podcast In this episode of Undercover Irish, we dive into the headlines of today—and the hidden stories of the past. The current controversy over skorts in Camogie has sparked debate across Ireland, but it's far from the first time sportswear caused uproar in the GAA. In Part 1 of Skorts, Shorts and the Three Stripe Affair, we rewind to the 1970s to explore how global sportswear giant Adidas made its first bold move into the Irish market—and how a clash of tradit...
2025-05-1721 minUndercover IrishLet Erin Remember: The Crimes Against Lough NeaghLet Erin Remember is a powerful and poetic exploration of environmental and cultural injustice, using the haunting Irish song Let Erin Remember as a guide through the destruction and pollution of Lough Neagh—once a sacred and mythologically rich lake at the heart of Ireland. This podcast unpacks the ecological crisis facing Lough Neagh, contextualizing it as a symptom of deeper colonial legacies. Through the lens of Irish history, myth, and song, we examine the lake's ancient origins as Lough Neathach, tied to the Dagda of Irish mythology, and expose how colonial ownership and mismanagement have devastated th...
2025-05-0931 minUndercover IrishIreland was ahead of the Stoics, Mindfulness, and CBT; Cognitive Behavioural Therapy within Gaeilge"The Irish Were Ahead of the Stoics and Mindfulness: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in Gaeilge" Episode Summary: In this thought-provoking episode of Undercover Irish, we explore how the Irish language (Gaeilge) encodes emotional intelligence in ways that predate Stoicism, modern mindfulness, and even Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). Through the lens of linguistic relativism—the idea that language shapes the way we think—we delve into how Gaeilge frames emotions, resilience, and human experience in profoundly unique ways. We begin with a global tour of language and thought: In Guugu Yimithirr (an Aboriginal Australian lang...
2025-04-2518 min