Dr Laurence Cox is an associate professor of sociology at the National University of Ireland in Maynooth. He is also one of the three authors of “The Irish Buddhist”, the story of U Dhammaloka and his clashes with the British Empire in the early 20th century.

We talk about Dhammaloka (born Laurence Carroll in Dublin, or so we think), Buddhism among the Irish, going native, Kipling’s “Kim”, the Irish in 19th Century America, and what stories like these mean in the aftermath of the Mother and Baby Homes report and the death of George Nkencho.

Plus Zoe Lyons raises a small fleadh onto The Plastic Pedestal…

Nathan Mannion is the senior curator at EPIC, which stands proudly on Custom House Quay in Dublin. Founded by Neville Isdell in 2016, EPIC tells the story of Ireland’s emigrant people throughout the ages. IOT’s been visited by some 750,000 people in its first four years and was voted Europe’s Leading Tourist Attraction for an unprecedented two years running in 2019 and 2020 at the World Travel Awards.

It’s a far-ranging and fascinating discussion taking in Spitfire Paddy (Brendan Finucane), Margaretta Eagar, tutor to the last of the Romanovs, Lord Haw Haw and Eamonn Andrews.

Plus, Rosemary Adaser places Edna O’Brien on The Plastic Pedestal

One of the country’s leading stand-ups, Zoe Lyons tones’ have been heard on everything from Clive Anderson’s Chat Show to Just A Minute. A fixture on the comedy circuit, her 2007 debut show “Fight or Flight” saw her nominated as Best Newcomer at Edinburgh Fringe. A second generation member of the diaspora, she recorded a personal documentary series “Zoe Lyons: Passport Paddy” for Radio 4 in 2018.

2021 will see her game show, “Lightning” broadcast on BBC2.

Plus Dame Elizabeth Anionwu raises Conrad Bryan onto The Plastic Pedestal

Rosemary is the founder and former CEO of AMRI, the Association of Mixed Race Irish, a campaign and support group with members in Britain, Ireland, the US and China. Born in Ireland to a white mother and Ghanaian father, her childhood was a series of foster homes and industrial schools. After moving to London at the age of 20, she gained a Masters in Social Policy and worked in Social Housing before forming AMRI.

Hers is a remarkable story of fighting injustice and seeking visibility in a society that has for too long ignored or neglected her and others like her.

Plus Tommy McLaughlin and Liam Thompson of Leeds Irish Centre do a double Plastic Pedestal.

Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu is, in her own words, “a black British woman of Irish-Nigerian heritage, thank you very much”. She is an activist, health care administrator, lecturer, and Emeritus Professor of Nursing at University of West London, where she created the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice.

Her memoir, “MIxed Blessings From A Cambridge Union” tells of how her parents met in 1947 and how she was subsequently raised in convent schools and by her grandparents.

Inspired at the age of four to take up nursing, she has been a leader in the research and treatment of sickle cell disease and thalassemia, has been granted a CBE and a damehood, been cited as one of the 100 most influential women in the world in 2020 by the BBC and, to top it all, appeared on Desert Island Discs earlier this year.

And now she’s here with us.

Plus journalist and writer Sheron Boyle raises a pair of personal Plastic Pedestals

Journalist and writer Sheron Boyle – along with chairman Liam Thompson and manager Tommy McLoughlin – share stories of Leeds Irish Centre and talk about what it’s meant, not just to the diaspora but to the whole of the community, as it marks its golden anniversary with a book.

Tales of Gabby Logan, Chris Moyles and Oasis abound – along with the finest three words ever uttered on a podcast.

Plus performance poet SuAndi offers a unique take on The Plastic Pedestal

Poet and performer SuAndi, OBE, is a third-generation member of the diaspora with a grandmother from Wicklow and a Nigerian father.

She is the freelance Cultural Director of the National Black Arts Alliance, has been awarded honorary degrees by Lancaster University and Manchester Metropolitan University and a Lifetime Award by Manchester BME Network.

Her one-woman show, The Story of M, is a tribute to her Liverpool Irish mother and is featured in the Mixed Museum’s online Exhibition of Mixed Race Irish. SuAndi’s own story starts and ends (so far) in Manchester, but takes in Lemn Sissay, Sir Laurence Olivier and Eartha Kitt. It’s quite the ride.

Plus Cherry Smyth raises Lauren Kinsella onto The Plastic Pedestal

A pleasure: a genuine pleasure and privilege to talk to the poet and author of “Famished”. In the usual freewheeling Plastic Podcast style we get to talk about voices and finding your own, about Covid and The Potato Famine, about America and Northern Ireland. Plus a genuinely beautiful idea.

All of this and Tony Murray goes rogue with The Plastic Pedestal.

What more is there to ask?

A truly marvellous chat with the charming and thoughtful Tony Murray. Director of the Irish Writers in London Summer School and curator of the Archive of the Irish in Britain. We talk punk, walking the streets during lockdown and the nature of the London Irish.

Plus Niamh Lear raises Samantha Barry onto The Plastic Pedestal

After a week away we’re back in full flow with Niamh Lear, whose current PhD thesis at Newcastle University studies the curious phenomenon of “Passport Paddies.”

Reviving the spirit of the salon, we talk geography, history and Boyzone, plus our unexpected family connection.

Also, Jess Moriarty places the legend that is Edna O’Brien on The Plastic Pedestal…