Iain Dale talks to Irish political historian Ciara Meehan about the life and politics of W T Cosgrave, the man who became President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State in 1922 and served in the office for ten years until losing the 1932 general election to Eamon De Valera and Fianna Fail. Although the office of Taoiseach wasn’t formally inaugurated until 1937, Cosgrave is widely considered to be the first holder of the post. Over the coming 13 weeks, Iain will be interviewing experts on the lives of the other 13 Taoisigh (which, for the uninitiated, is the plural of Taoiseach).

All these podcasts are available a month earlier on their own podcast channel 'The Irish Taoiseach Podcast'