Made In Chaos with Ryan Curtis

Ireland's Best-Known Financial Advisor on What We Get Wrong About Money, and Why You're Probably Doing Better Than Social Media Tells You. Paul Merriman, better known as Ask Paul, is one of Ireland's most recognisable financial advisors and CEO of Fairstone Ireland. In this conversation he cuts through the noise, the viral "skip your coffee" advice, the pressure to be a milli...

A Professional Poker Player on Risk, Luck, Reading People and Why You Can Make the Perfect Decision and Still Lose. Chris Dowling has spent well over a decade making a living at the poker table, from local card rooms in Ireland to the high-stakes rooms of Las Vegas. But this conversation is about far more than cards. It is about how to think clearly under pressure, how to read people, how to manag...

He Built One of Dublin's Best-Known Businesses While Addiction Nearly Took Everything. Rob Connolly on Success, Grief, Recovery and the Brother He Lost. Rob Connolly is the founder of The Ink Factory, one of the most recognisable tattoo studios in Ireland, and a serial entrepreneur since his teens. But behind the businesses is a life shaped by addiction from the age of twelve, the loss of his...

He's an Irish Traveller Who Speaks Five Languages, Reads Nietzsche in German, and Is Reviving a Dying Language. Lucas Connors on Culture, Community and Everything Settled Ireland Gets Wrong. When most people hear the word "Traveller," a set of assumptions follows. Lucas Connors spends this episode gently, brilliantly taking those assumptions apart. He's a jiu-jitsu black belt, a...

He Went From Addiction, Violence and a Seven-and-a-Half Year Prison Sentence to Studying the Very Behaviour That Destroyed His Life. Bob Cullen on Violence, Class and Whether People Can Really Change. Bob Cullen grew up in Blanchardstown as, by his own account, a shy and sensitive kid — and became a violent, addicted young man who ended up serving over seven years in prison. What makes his story e...

Doctors Told Him He Might Never Fight Again. Now He's One of the Best Fighters Ireland Has Ever Produced. Paul Hughes on Injuries, the Usman Fights, PEDs and the Real Cost of Winning. Paul Hughes is one of the biggest names in Irish MMA — a former Cage Warriors world champion who's twice gone five rounds with Usman Nurmagomedov for a world title, and beaten some of the best fighters on the...

She Was Sober for 16 Years. Then She Lost It All, and at 53 Rebuilt Her Brain From Scratch. Angela Carney on Hypnosis, Addiction and the Subconscious Mind. Angela Carney got sober in her early thirties and stayed sober for 16 years while building a successful business from nothing. Then her mother died, the pressure mounted, and a "harmless" habit reopened a door she thought was closed f...

He Grew Up in the Flats Obsessed With Money. Now He Runs 55 Properties Across Four Countries — Without Owning a Single One. Adam McEnroe grew up in Dolphin's Barn, obsessed with money from the age of four — selling toys off the step, hustling card games, always looking for the next way up. What he didn't have was anyone around him who'd built real success, or the belief that someone fr...

People Are Quick to Judge the Flats. Very Few Ever Stop to Listen. Richie Power Is Changing That. Richie Power grew up in the Liberties and created Chats in the Flats — the Instagram page showcasing a side of working-class Dublin that rarely makes the headlines: the humour, the talent, the grief, the pride and the sense of community behind the concrete. In a media landscape built on clicks and the...

Why Do You Keep Repeating the Same Patterns Even When You Desperately Want to Change? One of Ireland's Best-Known CBT Therapists Explains. Most people think their problems are stress, anger, anxiety, bad habits or overthinking. But what if a lot of the chaos in your life is coming from patterns you don't even realise you're repeating? Enda Murphy is a psychotherapist, author and one of...

A Working-Class Poet Who Can Perform for Thousands But Struggles to Say How He Feels. Emmett O'Brien on Grief, Masculinity & Finding a Voice. Emmett O'Brien is a poet, actor and storyteller from Cabra who's built a reputation for putting into words what so many people feel but never quite know how to say. He started writing at 13, after a 14-year-old friend was killed in a hit-and-...

He Built One of Ireland's Best-Known Estate Agencies, Lost Almost Everything in the Crash, and Came Back. Ray Cooke on Housing, Money & Sacrifice. Whether you're trying to buy your first home, stuck renting, investing, or you're just convinced the whole system is broken, you have an opinion on the housing market. Ray Cooke has watched it all from the inside. He built one of Ireland...

One of the Greatest to Ever Wear the Dublin Jersey — But This Isn't About Football. Philly McMahon on Ballymun, His Brother, and What Really Shaped Him. Philly McMahon is considered one of the greatest Gaelic footballers to ever play for Dublin. But behind the medals and the All-Ireland titles is a far more interesting story: growing up in working-class Ballymun, losing his brother John to add...

He's 23 and Has Spent Years on Dublin's Streets Helping the Homeless — Not Because It's His Job, But Because He Chose To. Everyone has walked past someone sleeping rough. Most of us glance, wonder, and keep walking. Brandon O'Connor spends his nights sitting beside those people — hearing their stories and watching addiction, trauma, kindness and hope all exist on the same street. B...

He Won Olympic Silver in Beijing. Two Years Later He Hit Rock Bottom. Kenny Egan on Winning, Addiction & Finding Himself Again. Kenny Egan has one of the greatest stories in Irish sport, a ten-time senior champion, the only man ever to win ten consecutive senior titles, and an Olympic silver medallist in Beijing 2008. But once the gloves came off and the homecoming faded, Kenny faced a very differ...

Real Strength Isn't Pushing Through Everything. It's Learning to Bend Without Breaking. A Clinical Psychologist Explains. Most people think mental strength means never slowing down, never breaking, never letting anyone see them struggle. Professor Ross G. White, clinical psychologist, author and performance specialist who works with the Irish Rugby Football Union, argues that this exact be...

He Built the Road for Irish Muay Thai Himself. Two Years Homeless. A Best Friend Lost. World Champion. Craig "Coco" Coakley is one of Ireland's most accomplished Muay Thai fighters a Dublin Combat Academy fighter who became Irish Fighter of the Year, won multiple titles including a world title, and fought for Yokkao, Muay Thai Grand Prix and ONE Championship. But what makes Craig&#39...

It's Not About the Food. A Life Coach Who Spent 22 Years in an Eating Disorder Explains What It's Really About. On the night her mum died, Cara O'Loughlin was 15 years old. That same night, she picked up her first eating disorder behaviour. What followed was 22 years of anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, exercise addiction, a stroke at 29, osteoporosis, infertility warnings, and eventual...

A Brain Haemorrhage. Then Breast Cancer. Same Man. Two Years Apart. Dec Pierce Gets Completely Honest. Most people know Dec Pierce as the voice of Block Rockin' Beats — the man who brought thousands together through music, through lockdown, through the nights they'll never forget. But behind the energy and the stage presence, the last three years of Dec's life have been extraordinary i...

He Was Addicted to Heroin for 15 Years. Now He Has a PhD in Neuroscience. The Same Brain Did Both. Brian Pennie started using heroin at 16. By 20 he was chronically addicted, every single day for 15 years. He held down a job, sold drugs to fund his habit, and accumulated 50 grand in debt to dealers and money lenders. He had a violent seizure from benzo withdrawal, nearly died, and hit a moment of...

She Knew Before the Doctors Did. Carly Mahady on Cancer, Being Dismissed & Why Pity Never Saved Anyone. At 16, Carly Mahady found a lump and was told she was fine. At 22, she noticed something else, and this time the doctors listened. What followed was a diagnosis of secretory carcinoma, a cancer so rare only 0.02% of people in the world have it, a mastectomy scheduled for her 25th birthday, c...

Less Than 1% Chance of Walking Again. Three Doctors. Three Hammer Blows. One Decision to Never Give Up. Niall McMahon opened Alfie's on South William Street in Dublin in 2008, the same year the recession began. He survived debt, pandemics, rising costs and 18 years of one of the toughest industries in the world. Then, in November 2023, a blood vessel in his spine burst without warning. Within days...

You Don't Have a Sleep Problem — You Have a Boundary Problem. Ireland's Leading Sleep Expert Explains Everything. 80% of Irish workers are sleep-deprived on any given day. And the solution isn't a supplement, a sleep tracker, or blue light glasses. Tom Coleman — Ireland's leading sleep expert, who has worked with Olympic athletes, global corporations, and shift workers — joins Ryan...

From a Bedroom in Dublin to the World's Biggest Stages — Robbie G on Success, Grief & What It Really Costs. Robbie G is one half of Belters Only, Ireland's most successful DJ duo, diamond-certified at home, platinum across the world, and now playing stages from New York to Tokyo. But this episode isn't just about the highs. Ryan sits down with Robbie for one of the most honest conv...

Why Do You Keep Doing Things You Know Are Bad for You? A Behavioural Scientist Explains. Most people think they're in control of their decisions. They're not, and the science proves it. Ryan sits down with Jason Lear, behavioural analyst and organiser of TEDxBlackMountain, for one of the most thought-provoking episodes of Made in Chaos yet. Jason breaks down the hidden patterns driving hum...