Paula McCarthy is on a trip to Cork Gaeltacht to find out more about her great- great-great-great-grandmother, Máire Bhuí Ní Laoghaire (1774-c.1848).
Máire Bhuí was an Irish speaking poet from Ballingeary in West Cork. She was a poet of the oral tradition and her poems and songs were passed on by word of mouth for nearly a century till they were collected and published in 1931.
In this episode, Paula and her son Andrew visit Máire Bhuí's grave in Inchigeela. Paula chats to her dad Bill and his first cousin Anne who are directly related to Máire Bhuí's son, Seán de Burc.
We hear about the background to her most famous poem 'Cath Cheim an Fhia' from Seán Ó Súilleabháin of the Ballingeary Historical Society, and find out more from academic and expert on the works of Máire Bhuí, Professor Tríona Ní Shíocháin from Maynooth University.
Featuring, by Máire Bhuí Ní Laoghaire -
'Cath Cheim an Fhia' sung by Nell Ní Chroinín,
'Maidean Alainn Gréine' sung by Tríona Ní Shiocháin',
and the poem 'Tuireamh Sheán de Búrc' recited by Tríona Ní Shíocháin.