Building 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 journeys, shanty lodgings, "No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish" signs, and the solidarity forged alongside Caribbean, South Asian and Eastern European co-workers.
• When labour organises, labour wins – From the mass pickets of the 1972 builders' strike to today's nationwide rail stoppages.
• Full-circle irony – The modern faces of union militancy in Britain—RMTs Mick Lynch, Eddie Dempsey and Unite's Sharon Graham—all proudly tracing their roots back across the Irish Sea.

Whether you're a folk-music nerd, a student of migration history, or just wondering why "lad culture" still belts out old rebel tunes after closing time, this episode shows how one ballad can tear down myths while building new bridges of solidarity. Tune in, turn it up, and get ready to sing along—and maybe organise—by the final chorus.

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 through the fog of colonial renaming to reveal the true, original Irish place names and the deeper meanings they held. From Munster to Meath, and through the historic sub-kingdoms of Thomond, Desmond, Ormond, and Westmeath, we explore a landscape where names were more than just labels—they were directional signposts, power structures, and cultural touchstones.

• 📜 The forgotten Irish meanings of Munster, Thomond, Desmond, Ormond, Meath, and Westmeath
• 🗺️ How these names reflected direction and geography within the Irish worldview
• 🧠 Why knowing these meanings reshapes our understanding of Irish identity, history, and land
• 🔥 How colonisation didn't just rename places—it redefined reality
• 🌀 What reclaiming these names can do for cultural consciousness and linguistic revival

Whether you're a Gaeilgeoir, a history buff, or just curious about where you really come from, this episode invites you to see Ireland with new eyes and older wisdom.

Irish place names, Thomond meaning, Munster Irish history, Meath etymology, Irish geography, decolonising Ireland, Desmond Ormond Thomond, Westmeath Irish name, ancient Irish provinces, Gaeilge, lost Irish directions

🎧 Listen now to rediscover the Ireland hidden in plain sight.

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 empire, from Wales to Africa and Aotearoa (New Zealand).

We mark the passing of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a literary giant who, like Bobby Sands MP, used his native language as a form of resistance behind prison walls. We draw connections between their acts of defiance — between Kikuyu and Gaeilge — and the universal power of indigenous language as both identity and insurrection.

• 📰 "Oidhreacht Shaibhir Fágtha" by Róisín Nic Liam – DEARG
• A tribute to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and the enduring legacy of language activism.
• 📰 "Irish and Kikuyu – Colonialism and Resistance" by Luke Callinan – An Phoblacht
• A thought-provoking article on shared experiences of colonial linguistic suppression in Ireland and Kenya.
• 📚 "Language, Resistance and Revival: Republican Prisoners and the Irish Language in the North of Ireland" by Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh
• An essential study of how Gaeilge became a language of resistance in Northern prisons.
• 🔗 Buy the book here from Pluto Press

Subscribe, share, and leave a review if this episode resonated with you.

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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.

🎧 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 tradition, branding, and county pride would trigger chaos on and off the pitch.

Focusing on the now-infamous Cork vs. Kerry Munster battles, this episode sets the stage for one of the most unusual and dramatic episodes in GAA history. From style to sponsorship, what we wear on the field has always mattered more than you might think.

👉 Tune in to uncover the forgotten story of how a few stripes shook the GAA to its core.

Keywords: Cork GAA, Kerry GAA, Adidas Ireland, Three Stripe Affair, Camogie skort controversy, GAA history, Munster final, Irish sports history, 1970s Ireland, Undercover Irish podcast

Let 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 this once-pristine body of water. We draw striking parallels to other colonially renamed and claimed landmarks—from Uluru in Aboriginal Australia to Lake Victoria in Africa and Mount Everest in the Himalayas—highlighting the global pattern of erasure and appropriation.

We delve into the work of Thomas Moore, whose collection of Irish melodies preserved the cultural soul of a nation, and argue that songs like Let Erin Remember act as cultural memory against colonial forgetting. The podcast also critiques the shallow coverage often seen in modern media, urging a deeper, historically grounded understanding of the crisis at Lough Neagh.

Rooted in myth, melody, and memory, this podcast is both an act of resistance and a call to restore the sacred—to the land, the language, and the water.

"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 language), people navigate space using cardinal directions, not egocentric ones like "left" or "right"—a linguistic habit that literally rewires spatial awareness.

• In Aymara (South America), time flows differently—the past is seen as in front of you, while the future is behind, challenging the assumptions of linear time.

• In Mandarin Chinese, vertical metaphors influence how speakers understand time—months go "up" or "down" rather than forward or backward.

Then, we come home to Ireland. We unpack how Irish expressions of emotion and feeling differ from English—not just in vocabulary, but in worldview. While English often seeks clarity and classification, Gaeilge embraces ambiguity, connection to nature, and emotional nuance. Phrases like "Tá brón orm" ("Sorrow is on me") reflect a subtle, externalized way of processing emotion—more aligned with acceptance than control.

In This Episode, You'll Learn:

• What linguistic relativism is and why it matters

• How global languages show different ways of thinking and feeling

• Why Gaeilge may offer a more mindful, compassionate approach to emotional life

• How Irish culture embedded emotional intelligence into everyday speech

• What we can reclaim from our language in a world hungry for depth, presence, and meaning

Keywords: Irish language, Gaeilge, emotional intelligence, Stoicism, CBT, mindfulness, linguistic relativism, Guugu Yimithirr, Aymara language, Mandarin Chinese, language and thought, Irish culture, emotion in language, cognitive behavioral therapy in Irish, Irish History