Tipperary So Far Away: Remembering Seán Treacy on Talbot Street
Release Date: 07/26/2025
The Making of a Brewery (with Ned Guinness)
Three Castles Burning
The story of Guinness is one of great success, yes, but also turbulence. Together with historian Antonia Hart, Ned Guinness has produced a family history that doesn’t shy away from the challenges faced, while shining a spotlight on some of the key figures in the ultimate success of the brand. Our story passes through events like 1798 and 1916, but there is also talk of the future. Please vote for The Dublin Pub: https://www.irishbookawards.ie/
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Lord Leitrim, John Twiss and the songs of our year (with Michael Steen)
Three Castles Burning
Lord Leitrim, John Twiss and the songs of our year (with Michael Steen) This edition of the podcast is dedicated to the memory of Manchán Magan. Singer Michael Steen (a member of the An Góilín Traditional Singers Club) has developed an intriguing calendar of the year, which creates a journey of song through the seasons. Some of these songs are tied to folklore traditions, others mark key anniversaries. In this discussion, we touch on all from the story of a detested landlord buried in St Michan’s Church to the recently pardoned John Twiss. The calendar is available to view at ....
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Castle Island Colossus: Remembering Con (With Roy Curtis and Brendan Conroy)
Three Castles Burning
At a packed Oak Room in the Mansion House, a celebration of the life of the journalist Con Houlihan last Saturday brought the audience on a journey into the work and passions of one of Ireland’s most beloved scribes. Born in Castle Island (two words, he insisted) in 1925, Con became the heart of the Evening Press newspaper on Dublin’s Burgh Quay. His love for his native Kerry, sport, literature, the theatre, St Patrick’s Athletic, the public houses of Dublin and more besides are all explored here. One of Ireland’s great actors of the stage, Brendan Conroy reads march reports and...
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Grainne Shaffrey in Conversation: On Cities, Towns and Our Built Environment
Three Castles Burning
Shaffrey Architects was established in 1967 by Patrick and Maura Shaffrey. Based on Ormond Quay,the practice has made a real and meaningful contribution to Dublin and beyond, with projects including 14 Henrietta Street and Wicklow Head Lighthouse. Fifty years on from Patrick Shaffrey producing The Irish Town: An Approach to Survival, Grainne Shaffrey joins me to talk about the journey since. This event was part of the brilliant Seán Corcoran Series in Drogheda’s Highlanes Gallery, an annual event dedicated to the life, work and memory of one of Ireland’s great collectors and local...
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Brian Kerr in Conversation: Drimnagh, Libya and Beyond
Three Castles Burning
Brian Kerr’s voice is instantly familiar as a broadcaster, and his contribution to Irish football is extraordinary. Born in 1953, his first coaching role came while barely a teenager. In the 1980s he would come to manage the team he had supported since his childhood, St Patrick’s Athletic, before going on to historic victories with Ireland’s youth teams in the 1990s. In this discussion, we touch on everything from the 1966 World Cup Final to the visit of the Al-Helal Football Academy in Gaza to Dublin. A little language in this one. With thanks to Naoise Nunn and all at...
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Famine Soup: Alexis Soyer, Trevelyan and The Great Hunger in Dublin
Three Castles Burning
Padraic X. Scanlan is the author of Rot: A History of the Irish Famine. Framing the crisis in Ireland within the broader picture of Empire, this book brings much to how we understood the events that reshaped Ireland. While the crisis recalls rural Ireland, Dublin was central to the story, as the location of the Castle Administration and a bustling port. In this episode we touch on the peculiar story of Alexis Soyer, chef to London’s Reform Club, who would arrive in the city in 1847. Establishing a soup kitchen in front of the Royal Barracks, Soyer’s intervention was widely condemned in...
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Fighting the Flames: Captain James Robert Ingram
Three Castles Burning
In 1860, a blaze in the Kildare Street Club led to the death of three workers and the destruction of an institution. Together with other fires of the era, this provided the imperative for a municipal fire service. While Captain James Robert Ingram’s name is associated with the ‘Whiskey Fire’ of 1875, there were many other significant fires, including the destruction of Dublin’s Theatre Royal. This all occurred in a time when a new scientific approach to firefighting was taking shape, thanks to the pioneering writing of James Braidwood, influenced by the Great Fire of Edinburgh....
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Tipperary So Far Away: Remembering Seán Treacy on Talbot Street
Three Castles Burning
Niamh Hassett and Sean Nugent join me in this special edition of the podcast, exploring a wonderful Tipperary tradition on Dublin’s Talbot Street. When the Premier County reach an All Ireland Final, hundreds gather to remember Seán Treacy on the morning of the game. What began this tradition, and why is it growing in popularity?
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Mohair Suits in the National Ballroom: The Showband Era
Three Castles Burning
This month brings the fiftieth anniversary of the tragic murders of members of The Miami Showband. This band, drawing its members from both sides of the border, was a defining part of the showband scene that withstood the changing musical tastes of the country from one decade into the next. Where did the Showband Scene come from, and what were its lasting impacts on music in Dublin and beyond?
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‘A Perfect Prodigy of Moral Horrors’ - The Donnybrook Fair
Three Castles Burning
The Donnybrook Fair is recalled in ballad and memoir as a notorious and chaotic annual event, but what really went on there? Over centuries, the annual fair drew revellers from near and far to Donnybrook, but a combination of social reformers successfully brought about its demise in the 1850s. In this story, we meet characters as diverse as prize fighter Dan Donnelly, and civic reformer James Haughton. This month marks the twentieth anniversary of the passing of the great Frank Harte, a truly remarkable man and Dubliner, who brought this fair to life in his singing.
info_outlineNiamh Hassett and Sean Nugent join me in this special edition of the podcast, exploring a wonderful Tipperary tradition on Dublin’s Talbot Street. When the Premier County reach an All Ireland Final, hundreds gather to remember Seán Treacy on the morning of the game. What began this tradition, and why is it growing in popularity?