Irish Stew Podcast

With the Aer Lingus College Football Classic last month and Ireland’s first NFL game at the end of this one, Neale Richmond kicks off the episode with a timely gridiron tale.

“I'm not just a very old and average rugby player, but I'm the only member of the Irish Parliament who's played American football. I was a defensive tackle for the Dublin Rebels and proud holder of a Shamrock Bull medal from 2016,” says the Fine ...

In something of an epilogue to our “Lost in Belfast” series, former U.S. Congressman and U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland Joseph Kennedy III joins Irish Stew for a wide-ranging conversation on politics, peace, and public service. From the streets of Belfast to the tumult of Washington, Kennedy reflects on the lessons Northern Ireland can teach the wider world, the legacy of his famed family, and where his own journey is heade...

Today, we hear the story of an American congressman who changed the lives of thousands of Irish people, the foundation created to honor his legacy, and the big event this fall that will celebrate that legacy.

To tell the tale, we have two Irish individuals who benefited from the Morrison Visa program, spearheaded by Congressman Bruce Morrison: Feargal O’Sullivan, CEO of the outsourced sales and marketing firm USAM, and Elaine Brenna...

In his third appearance on Irish Stew, historian Dr. Damian Shiels joins Martin Nutty for a wide-ranging and thought-provoking conversation. Now living in Finland, Damian shares the personal story behind his move abroad, driven by Ireland’s rising cost of living and the opportunities remote work provides.

The episode explores Damian’s latest projects, including "Transatlantic", a new podcast he co-hosts with Finn Dwyer, wh...

The Smuggler is back and rhyming its way through Ireland, so we updated our earlier episode with actor Mick Mellamphy with news of his Irish tour of Ronán Noone’s award-winning one-man tour de force this July.

Set on a wealthy American island enclave and performed in rhymed verse, The Smuggler follows Irish immigrant Tim Finnegan as he’s pulled into the local criminal underworld after a fatal crash stirs tensions between locals and ...

In this episode, host Martin Nutty chats with Declan Curran, actor, writer, and producer of the acclaimed short film Dear Imelda. Declan traces his creative path from creating teenage comedy sketches on YouTube to crafting award-winning short films that have screened at festivals worldwide. His growing success is highlighted by a recent distribution deal brokered by Network Ireland Television (NITV) with the Japanese streaming plat...

When you have a good story to tell, why not invite the world?
For our Lost In Belfast series finale, we convene in the Titanic Hotel’s grand vaulted hall, where the ill-fated ship was designed. Hundreds have gathered from across local communities and from around the globe for the Belfast International Homecoming—civic leaders, elected officials, business executives, investors, entrepreneurs, culture makers…and two peripatetic p...

In the 10th episode of the Irish Stew Podcast's Lost in Belfast series, host Martin Nutty sits down with poet Linda McKenna. Together, they discuss poetry, history, and forgotten voices of Irish history.

Linda's path to poetry began almost by accident, but her talent was apparent, confirmed when she received the prestigious 2018 Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing. Recording from the Observatory room at Belfast's Gran...

In this episode of Irish Stew, host Martin Nutty connects with key figures from Solas Nua, a dynamic Washington, D.C.-based arts organization devoted to contemporary Irish culture. Recorded during the Capital Irish Film Festival, the conversation features:

• Kate Meenan-Waugh, Board Co-Chair
• Andrew Dolan, Executive Director
• Rex Daugherty, Artistic Director of Theater

Kate recounts her Irish upbringing, her background in educatio...

Join us in jail, or is it gaol, as in the Crumlin Road Gaol, the last Victorian era prison relic in Northern Ireland, now being put to better use as the home of the Belfast Distillery Company, working to revive the classic old McConnell’s Whisky brand and creating a major new hospitality and tourist attraction in the process.

We stop for “just the one” in this all-too brief episode, where CEO John Kelly lays out the twin goals for t...

When you’re in a UNESCO City of Music, you expect to hear some great sounds, which we did when we found our way to the Duncairn Centre for Culture & Arts to hear the Belfast singer, songwriter, performer, and musical explorer Suzanne Savage.

Hooked at age seven by an Ulster Orchestra concert, she picked up a violin at age eight. Within a few years, she was practicing classical music by day and gigging with Belfast bands by night...

This episode of the Irish Stew Podcast  features a discussion with documentary filmmaker Alan Gilsenan  and journalist John Walsh about their film 'The Irish Question.' 

The film delves into the recent history of Ireland, the partition between North and South, and contemplates the concept of a United Ireland in the post-Brexit era. The conversation highlights the impact of Brexit, economic and cultural complexities, and th...

Former champion boxer John Duddy from Derry and one-time construction worker Newry’s own Ciaran Byrne share their unlikely paths to acting on stage and in film in part two of our first live podcast recording for Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish Festival.

The two friends delve into how their life experiences inform their performances, personal traumas from The Troubles, and the critical role of theater in post-conflict healing and educatio...

After Origin Theatre’s artistic director Mick Mellamphy welcomes our paying (!) audience to the 1st Irish Festival’s first live podcast event, we introduce theatre makers, Derry’s own Labhaoise Magee of Fair Play Productions and Big Telly Theatre’s Crissy O' Donovan who was raised in Dublin, worked in GB, and is now based in Northern Ireland.

Fair Play brought Sinéad O'Brien's "storytelling masterclass" No O...

We found the right guides for Belfast’s burgeoning food and festivities scene in Michael Stewart and Caroline Wilson.

Caroline is a lawyer-turned-serial-entrepreneur of food and drink experiences. She founded Belfast Food Tour, co-founded Taste and Tour, Ahoy Belfast, Fooday and Belfast Gin Fest and she’s on the Board of Visit Belfast and The Strand.

A well-known man about Belfast, Michael Stewart, spent close to 40 years in hospital...

Join us as we get “Lost Outside of Belfast” when we take a 25-minute cab ride from the city center to Hinch Distillery in bucolic County Down. With Head Distiller Will Stafford as our guide, we explore the sensory journey of whiskey making from the meticulous process of mashing, fermentation, and distillation to savoring the heady aromas of the “angels’ share” seeping from the aged wooden barrels shacked ceiling-high in the caverno...

We commemorate the 100th Anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby this week with Patrick O'Sullivan Greene, author of Gatsby: Death of an Irishman. 

Patrick guides us through F. Scott Fitzgerald's troubled Midwest upbringing, his quest for status, his ambivalence towards his Irish heritage, the sociopolitical climate of early 20th-century America, and the careless Jazz Age excess portrayed in Gatsby.

Patrick pe...

In this episode of the Irish Stew Podcast, host Martin Nutty discusses his experience celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the American Irish Historical Society, meeting its executive director, Dr. Elizabeth Stack. Despite her success in revitalizing the society, news of her removal for cost-saving measures casts a shadow on its future. 

The episode reissues a conversation from July 2024, when cohosts John Lee and Martin Nutty met ...

Join us as Larry Kirwan spins us back to the vibrant, violent New York City of the 1980s and the lives of the mostly undocumented Irish who called a patch of turf there home, in his novel Rockin’ The Bronx.

 
Best known as the frontman for the legendary Irish-inflected rock & roll band Black 47, Larry delves into themes of immigration, Irish and Hispanic cultural intersections, the shifting fortunes of the navvies and the na...