What Were We Like is on holidays for the next two weeks. We'll be back with a podcast about the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979, and that will come out on Monday the 24th of August.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ireland was gripped by a bizarre phenomenon in the summer of 1985: sightings of moving statues of the Virgin Mary. Tens of thousands of people flocked to villages in Kerry - and elsewhere - to catch a glimpse of these monuments, which eyewitnesses claimed would move, beckon and even undergo strange facial transformations. Diarmaid and Catriona chart this crazy story, look at how it challenged the Catholic Church, and also trace the history of holy apparitions in Ireland.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1985, the body of a newborn baby washed up on a beach in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, stabbed to death. What followed was one of the most infamous incidents in the history of An Garda Síochána. Diarmaid and Catriona trace the botched Garda investigation into the baby's death, carried out by the notorious Heavy Gang, the shocking Tribunal of Inquiry which followed, and how it became a watershed moment in the treatment of women in Ireland.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, Diarmaid and Catriona kick off a new series focusing on Ireland in the 1980s. This was a decade of great political instability, with three general elections alone happening between 1981 and 1982. Unemployment and emigration were high. Heroin took hold in Dublin and spread around the country. But one of the most polarising issues of all was abortion. In the first of this series, What Were We Like looks at how the extremely controversial Eighth Amendment came to be inserted into the Constitution in 1983 - and remained there until its repeal in 2018.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monaghan born Patrick Kavanagh was a notorious presence in Dublin for much of his life. Broke, drunk and often bitter, he boozed in the bars around Grafton Street, clashing with the likes of Brendan Behan and railing against the literary establishment. Always an outsider, he nonetheless transformed Irish poetry by focusing on the ordinary aspects of rural Ireland, paving the way for the likes of Seamus Heaney, and writing perhaps the greatest love song of all time, Raglan Road.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 5 May 1981, 26-year-old Bobby Sands became the first of ten IRA hunger strikers to die at the Maze Prison, changing the course of history in Northern Ireland. In this episode, Diarmaid and Catriona assess his life, his status as a Republican icon, and how he impacted the career of his chief antagonist, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher among others.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Irish Women's Liberation Movement, Mary Magee and the fight for contraceptive rights in Ireland.  It was the 1970s and in many ways, things were grim for the women of Ireland. Marital rape was permitted, women had to stop working in the public service when they got married, and most relevantly for this podcast, contraception was illegal. Here, Diarmaid and Catriona tell the stories of the brave women and men who fought to change that. Two key events feature: the famous "Contraceptive train" of 1971, in which a group of women bought contraceptives in Northern Ireland - where they were legal - and brought them back across the border, and dared the Gardai to arrest them. The second is the remarkable bravery of Mary Magee, whose legal case paved the way for contraceptives to become legal in Ireland.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this special recording, What Were We Like appears before a live audience at this year's Listowel Writers Week, to discuss the 1926 census. Diarmaid and Catriona talk about what the census tells us about Irish society in the early part of the 20th century - both in Kerry, and in Ireland in general. Catriona takes umbrage at the performance of Garda Daniel Rooney, who was responsible for some of the less-than-impressive record keeping at the time. But nonetheless, the census provides a remarkable insight into Ireland back then - and a great opportunity for us to snoop on our neighbours.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To mark Bloomsday, Diarmaid and Catriona tell the remarkable story of how two of James Joyce's friends made false allegations of infidelity against Nora Barnacle, something which sent Joyce into a jealous rage. The impact on Joyce was severe, and caused him to question the paternity of his son, Giorgio - but it also had major literary consequences, forming the basis of one of the key chapters of Ulysses. Joyce's political beliefs are also explored, as well as the social history of Dublin at the time.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the 1960s, John Charles McQuaid faced a number of serious challenges that saw his influence over Ireland wane. The advent of television and the women's movement were major problems for him - and Vatican 2 presented the biggest threat to his authority. But McQuaid still wielded considerable power, and went after people who crossed his path, including novelist John McGahern, various Protestants and more or less anyone interested in sex. McQuaid gradually came to be regarded as out of touch with the country. He resigned in 1972, and died the following year.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.