Sin Scéal Eile

I met Adrian down at the festival, his friend nominated him and told me that he’d be a great shout for the podcast. He wasn’t wrong. I met Adrian for a brief chat, not knowing anything about him. What I found was a sweet, soft spoken man, who is extremely passionate about music. He talks so enthusiastically about other musician’s work, which is quite frankly, lovely to see. He’s an artist in an engineer's world, playing guitar and writing songs to ease his soul. He’s grieving the loss of his father, Des, who just three weeks ago left this world and by all accounts, sounds like he would have been delightful to chat to as well. Rx

Well, if ever there was a person to say “music is life” it’s Sharon. She has lived what some would consider a “normal life”. Faced with very little job opportunities when she left school in the 80s, she took whatever job was going and was quite content with that. She built a home, raised her kids, but when she was secure and happy, it was time to rediscover her love of music. She once considered herself to be a shy person, but since throwing herself into music, she’s anything but. Sharon now goes to sean nós singing workshops, folk music gatherings, and has sung in choirs to 40,000 people. Rx

Emmet is the MC for the weekend down at Hibernacle festival. It's a small, gorgeous gathering of art and music loving folk, so Emmet fits right in. He’s a poet, born and reared in Cabra and is lucky enough to still live there. We had a lovely chat about his work delivering poetry workshops in schools and prisons, as well as what it really means to make a living as an artist in 2026.Rx

If you ever wanted to nerd out about bees, this is the episode for you. We chatted to my pal Mark Earley about his new career change and passion project. He and Kyle started Open Hive and now they keep hives across Ireland. We donned some fetching suits and met the hive out Mark's back garden and learned all about what makes bees so crucial to our world.Rx

A Dub who has found her tribe in West Clare. Jacinta is an actor and a writer who moved to Miltown Malbay from Dublin’s inner city and has never looked back. She’s settled in a new home, surrounded by nature, where her two boys can have space and her new little puppy, Travis, can be the centre of attention. Rx

Kev has been through the wars recently. I sat with him in his front room, surrounded by his vinyl collection and with his tiny dog, Penny, on his lap. He was so incredibly honest with me and told me his story of overcoming alcoholism, heartbreak, grief and loss. His main reason for talking to me today is so that other people know that it’s OK not to be OK, and when you need help, put your hand up, ask for it, and if they don’t hear you, ask again.Rx

Gordon is a bit of a local legend out in the West of Ireland. His work as a Burren tour guide sees him meeting hoards of intrigued tourists each year and guiding them around our unique landscape. He’ll happily point out the native lizards, frogs and hundreds of birds that surround us in what some mistakenly take for a barren landscape. Nature is Gordon’s hobby, his passion and his life’s work. He paints beautiful depictions of Irish wildlife, sometimes straight onto stone, and many times in beautiful hardback books. In his latest book, ‘Birdstyle’, he has elegantly captured the characteristics of 112 beautiful Irish birds. xR

If ever there was an episode of this podcast that I would like the government to listen to, it’s this one. As we travel around all of Ireland and speak to a whole host of different people, from different socio-ecomonic backgrounds, different ages, different everything…there’s one topic that is affecting absolutely everyone. The housing crisis.Holly, her partner, and their small child are victims of the crisis. Each summer, they have to leave their rental home so that tourists can rent it on AirB&B. No matter what county they try (and they’ve been moving a lot), it seems they can’t find any decent, affordable and permanent places to live. Not the most ideal situation with a child who’ll be starting school soon. Holly is trying to be resourceful and knows that having just one income can hold them back, so she has launched a photography business. It’s something that she can do flexibly around childcare.