Built in Kilkenny

Stevie Mulrooney is 10 years old, from Kilkenny, and he's already sung Ireland's Call to 55,000 people at the Aviva Stadium. In this episode of Built in Kilkenny, Stevie and his dad Seamus tell the story of the Late Late Toy Show, being surprised on stage by Peter O'Mahony and Bundee Aki, the phone call from Josh van der Flier that led to the Aviva, and everything since: touring with P...

Ciara O'Connor is a secondary school music teacher who spotted a gap: kids arriving at school unable to read music, and teachers who didn't feel equipped to teach it. So she built Ceoil Cliste, a hands-on programme that travels to primary schools all over Ireland making music fun, and a set of resources to help other teachers do the same. In this episode of Built in Kilkenny, Ciara tells t...

Declan Buggy left school with no qualifications and taught himself trade skills in his parents' shed using his late granddad's old tools. Today he runs the Irish School of DIY, teaching people all over the country how to do it themselves. In this episode of Built in Kilkenny, Declan tells the story of teaching himself to build furniture as a kid by robbing motors out of broken washing mach...

Anne Healy turns genuine worn Irish horseshoes into good luck gifts sent all over the world. In this episode of Built in Kilkenny, Anne tells the story of leaving her job at AXA in 2019 to chase an idea people told her was mad, the 30-second COVID video that turned the business around, and what it's like being trusted with pieces that carry huge personal meaning. We get into the Irish traditio...

Decky Casey has spent nearly two decades helping people through job interviews. A year ago he turned it into a business, Ace That Interview, while still working full-time in the HSE and raising his daughter. In this episode of Built in Kilkenny we get into his story, from bars and social care to senior healthcare roles in Ireland and Australia, to building a side business in the evenings. We also...

Zero fillers in the product. Zero outside funding. Zero salary since September. In this episode of Built in Kilkenny, Charlie Cook sits down with Odhrán, co-founder of Second Self Life, a premium protein brand built from scratch in Kilkenny with his partner Amy-Leigh. They had enough money saved to go to Australia. They put it into a business instead. Manufacturers laughed them out of the room. Th...

For more than two centuries, two brewing families called Kilkenny home. Then it all disappeared. In this first episode of Built in Kilkenny, Charlie Cook sits down with Dan Smithwick, descendant of one of Ireland's most famous brewing families, to talk about how he brought brewing back to a city that had lost it. The conversation covers the history of Sullivan's and Smithwick's, the ho...