He was one of Ireland’s greatest and most controversial playwrights. Sean O’Casey’s remarkable life began in the slums of Dublin and took him to the biggest stages in the world, including the Abbey Theatre.
In the early hours of February 14th 1981, a fire ripped through the Stardust nightclub in Artane, in Dublin. 48 people, aged between 16 and 27, died in the tragedy. It was one of the worst fires, in terms of loss of life and significant injury, in the State’s history. In 1982, a Tribunal controversially found that the fire was "probably caused deliberately", despite no evidence. For 43 years, the families fought for justice for the 48 people who died and to get answers as to how their loved ones died. This is the story of Stardust.
On the 7th of March 1923, nine anti-Treaty prisoners were taken to a field in Kerry, tied to a landmine and blown up. It was one of the most shocking events of the Irish Civil War and became known as the Ballyseedy Massacre.
After committing one of the worst atrocities in the Irish Civil War, the State attempts to cover up its role in the massacre.
John Paul II, the "rock star" Pope, took Ireland by storm in 1979, and millions came out to see him. (Everyone except Catriona, who went to Donegal in a sulk but kept an eye on proceedings through the television). This was an iconic moment, and everyone was swept away by his good looks, his "deep baritone" voice, and his ability to connect with young people. Yet, his abilities as a showman belied a deep conservatism, particularly on women's issues, and his visit turned out to be a last hurrah for the Catholic Church before it was rocked by child sexual-abuse scandals, the rise of feminism and plummeting Mass attendance, in later years.
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 investigation into the baby's death, carried out by the notorious Heavy Gang, and the shocking Tribunal of Inquiry which followed, and how it became a watershed moment in the treatment of women in Ireland.
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.
2026 marks the 800 year anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi and Sunday Worship is broadcasting mass live from Multyfarnham Franciscan Friary in County Westmeath on July 19th.
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.
Today, Diarmaid and Catriona tell the stories of the brave women and men who fought to change contraceptive law in Ireland. 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.
