Irish Podcasts for St. Patrick's Day
St Patrick's Day landing on a Tuesday means it's time for some Irish themed podcasts to add to your queue. Luckily, I have some old content for this. Double luckily, I've also learned about more Irish podcasts in the meantime.
Some years ago, one of my best friends got married in Ireland. It was just about when I was first starting Mentally? A Magpie. I had decided to keep it to mostly podcasts, and had been on a decent roll when it came to weekly reviews. Heading to Ireland for my friend's wedding was getting in the way of that, so in my excitement over this website and what I was doing - I decided to do a week of reviews. Seven podcasts related to or about Irish topics.
I want to revisit them today, and add a few more if you're interested in listening to some content about Ireland, mostly from Ireland.
The Original Irish Podcast Reviews
These podcasts I chose because I wanted to not just learn about Ireland as a history and a place, but also as a now.
The Irish History Podcast
If I believed in "canon" podcasts, this is one of them regardless of the topic. A long running history podcast that's still going - it's a the Irish History Podcast if you want to dip into Irish history.
You're Dead to Me: Grainne O'Malley
This is one of the only podcast episodes I have listened to multiple times. I love this podcast, I love this story, and Grainne O'Malley is one of the best figures in history, not just Irish history. This episode is also one of the funniest in the You're Dead to Me collection.
The Black and Irish Podcast
This podcast stopped producing in 2023. I still think it's an excellent one for nuances of living in Ireland today, especially as every major city in every country eventually starts to become more global than local with immigration and emigration. It's not a bad thing in my opinion, but it's important to consider what it all means anywhere it happens.
The Blindboy Podcast
This one is still very much going strong. A cultural force of a podcast honestly, I haven't listened to it lately but I know there are people who have it in their regular rotation from all over the world.
The Irish Mythology Podcast
This one had its last episode in 2024, I'm not sure where they've been since. However, it still is a great place to go find Irish mythology. It's a twisty history of oral tradition written down by outsiders, so it's always something that needs to be massaged out to something maybe closer to a truth than the one we will never find.
The Irish Music Stories Podcast
This is the one podcast that is an Irish-American one, and as I say in my little review here - it reminds me of The Irish Pub Song. The Irish diaspora is a prolific one, taking its music and culture around the world. If you want to learn more about that, there is an Earbuds Podcast Collective Blog Post about Irish music that I really enjoyed digging into.
Ireland's Shame: The Death of Sativa Halappanaver
It seems contradictory that a majority Catholic country has made abortion legal. A big reason why is the death of Sativa Halappanaver. This podcast explores this story and its relationship to the Irish people. It's a tough one, but I also think it's beautiful.
Bonus Irish Podcasts
Now that we've gone through the original list, I wanted to give a few that I've discovered in the years since I made this list.
The Troubles Podcast
This one, like many podcasts, had a bit of a rocky start in quality. If you're going to listen from the beginning, that is. A great podcast talking about The Troubles, its history, and impact on today. Like, listen to this one and maybe we can stop calling that one drink "an Irish Car Bomb" now?
West Cork
A fascinating Irish True Crime podcast that reminds us that even 30 year old murders can impact a small community to this day.
Ireland's Edge
A fascinating interview series captured at Ireland's Edge in Dingle. It has great topics to dig into and think about. Learn more about Ireland's Edge Here.
Irish in America
Being someone who is of Irish descent in a country where Irish went from ostracized to accepted is a weird thing. Sometimes I joke that I have genetic Catholic guilt from one side of my family, and a protestant work ethic on the other - so I'm just primed for anxiety. Which is true. It highlights something, though.
Many of us are removed from what being an Irish immigrant once meant. We accept the Irish now as a wonderful people from a magical island of history and mystery - when the truth is so much harder and complex than that. I'm not saying don't have fun this weekend, or any weekend where Irish culture and history are celebrated, I'm just saying, we can take a step back and learn some more here and there. Maybe even give our livers a break, for what it's worth.
I hope you enjoyed this list, and I hope it inspires you to find the truth of a then, and a now.