This week's podcast features one of Ireland's oldest citizens who is aged 108 - Máirín Hughes.

Máirín's extraordinary recall and articulation makes this recording very special indeed. She discusses her parents' membership of the Gaelic League in 1910; the Spanish Flu in Ireland in 1918; The Black and Tans in Killarney in 1921; the early days of the new Free State; Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 1932; visiting the Blasket Islands in 1929; working in the medical laboratory in UCC from 1932 until 1948.

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In this podcast you will hear the following voices speak on their areas of interest and expertise:

Changes in Farming Practices

Margaret Gill's speaks about her family farm in Dublin; Mary Heavey of Tullamore discusses women in farming; Kerrywoman Mary O'Sullivan recalls how the parish was once the centre of the universe

The evolution of Policing and Defence in Ireland

Retired Col.Desmond Travers speaks about history repeating itself; Ann McCabe, widow of Det. Garda Gerry McCabe who was shot by the IRA in Adare, recalls the trauma following the tragic event; retired Ban Garda Mary Stratford recalls her arrest of an individual in her early days on duty.

Changes in Business in Ireland

David Kennedy, Former CEO, Aer Lingus Group describes the management structures in the 1960s.

Social Community Change 

Also discussed in this podcast by several people included in our archive

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This is the second podcast relating to the political life of Brigid Hogan O'Higgins, Fine Gael T.D. from 1957 - 1977.

She recalls her tenure as a female politician in those years, in a male dominated Leinster House.

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This is the second podcast relating to the political life of Brigid Hogan O'Higgins, Fine Gael T.D. from 1957 - 1977.

She recalls her tenure as a female politician in those years, in a male dominated Leinster House.

This is the first section of a two part podcast in which Brigid Hogan O'Higgins discusses her fascinating family background.  We hear about the rounding up of some of her family members by the British military during the War of Independence, and their imprisonment at Ballykinlar Camp in Co. Down. 

Also discussed are the executions carried out during the Civil War, and the friendship which existed between Paddy Hogan, Kevin O'Higgins, Desmond Fitzgerald and Michael Collins.  The brave female members of her family are recalled.

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In this podcast you will hear the voices of the following women as they discuss their lives in an Irish Big House:

Helen Simpson, née Morgan, Ballymaloe House, Co. Cork

Emily Villiers Stuart of Dromana in Waterford

Rosaleen Tonson Rye of Ryecourt, Co. Cork

Henrietta Lady Staples of Capppagh House, Co. Waterford.

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This week's podcast continues to highlight Irish men and women who served their country as members of An Garda Síochána in earlier days.  You will hear sound clips from recordings compiled with retired members of the force, who include:

Bertie Carey, originally from North Kerry, who was suspended from the force in the 1950s.

William Geary from West Limerick, suspended in 1929.

Jim Crockett, originally from Cork city who was involved in the recovery of stolen art works in the late 1980s.

Pat Kearney, originally from Castleisland Co. Kerry recalls his time on the beat in Limerick city in the 1960s.

Ann McCabe, widow of Garda Gerry McCabe, discusses the killing of her husband during an attempted bank raid by the IRA in Adare in 1996.

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An Garda Síochána was formed in February 1922.  To mark this forthcoming centenary, we have selected from our archive of oral history recordings some excerpts which illustrate the manner in which policing was carried out by men and women who dedicated their working lives to the service of the Irish state.

The voices you will hear on this podcast are:

Dan Donovan, born in 1906, joined An Garda Síochána in 1922

George Dennison, born 1925.  Joined 1945

Michael Kilkenny, born 1918. Joined 1939

Gerry Murray, born 1930s. Joined 1960s

Mary Stratford, born 1940. Joined 1960

Eamon Doyle, born 1940. Joined 1963

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The Handover of Dublin Castle, and its administration by the British to the newly formed Provisional Government of Ireland on 16th January 1922 marked the most important event in Irish history since the country's occupation many centuries earlier.

In the podcast may be heard the voices of the following people:

The late Col. Sean Clancy who was born in 1901 in Co. Clare and was present at the historic event.  

John Bellingham whose father, Arthur Stuart Bellingham, joined the Royal Artillery Regiment, was gassed in the trenches and was sent back to Ireland to serve on the staff at Dublin Castle from 1917 until the handover in 1922.

The late Michael Finucane, who was born in 1903 in North Kerry, joined the newly-formed Irish Civil Service, and he provides a fascinating first hand account of the transition of Government as events unfolded before, during and after the handover of Dublin Castle. 

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This podcast features a recording compiled with the late Jackie Healy Rae in 2011.  It is fascinating, revealing and funny.

During the recording he speaks frankly about his early life and the poverty endured by his family, the beginning of his hard working early life, his introduction to politics locally, his involvement in local and general elections, and his tenure as a T.D. in Dáil Eireann.

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