First Thought

Vinyl Hours host Tiernan Henry is joined by Galway singer-songwriter Niamh Regan for a special live recording of Vinyl Hours, which took place during Galway International Arts Festival 2021. In the episode, Niamh shares the "soundtrack of her life" (available to enjoy on Galway International Arts Festival's Spotify page). Vinyl Hours is Galway International Arts Festival's music discussion series...

On this episode, former Republic of Ireland football manager Brian Kerr sits down with Tiernan Henry for a Vinyl Hours session. Listen to Brian's playlist on Galway International Arts Festival's Spotify page.

Diversity advocate, writer, and fashion influencer Sinéad Burke joins host Tiernan Henry to share the soundtrack of her life, from Spice Girls to Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, Diana Ross, The Cranberries, Denise Chaila and more. Listen to Sinéad's playlist on Galway International Arts Festival's Spotify page.

Vinyl Hours host Tiernan Henry is joined by our August guest, Artistic Director of the Abbey Theatre Caitríona McLaughlin. In the episode, Caitríona shares the "soundtrack of his life" (available to enjoy on Galway International Arts Festival's Spotify page). Vinyl Hours is Galway International Arts Festival's music discussion series which takes place live at the festival and here on the First Tho...

Vinyl Hours host Tiernan Henry is joined by our July guest, Stephen Murtagh of the Academic. In the episode, Stephen shares the "soundtrack of his life" (available to enjoy on Galway International Arts Festival's Spotify page): We Used to Wait by Arcade Fire Penny Lane by The Beatles I Say a Little Prayer by Dionne Warwick This Must Be the Place by Talking Heads Stacy's Mom by Fountains of Wayne H...

Our summer Vinyl Hours podcast series continues with an interview with Maureen Kennelly, director of the Arts Council Ireland. Maureen joins host Tiernan Henry to talk about the music that shaped her, the concerts she'll never forget, and the new generation of Irish artists inspiring her today. Maureen Kennelly's full Vinyl Hours playlist is available to enjoy on Galway International Arts Festival...

Our summer series of Vinyl Hours music interviews kicks off with an interview with Steve Wall, the renowned actor and singer-songwriter who delighted audiences in The Stunning and wrote songs that defined, and are part of the DNA of, a whole generation of Irish people. Join us Wednesday 30 June for the next edition of Vinyl Hours.  Vinyl Hours is hosted by Tiernan Henry. Galway International Arts...

In this episode, recorded in September 2020 at the Galway International Arts Festival Gallery, acclaimed painter Hughie O’Donoghue and GIAF Artistic Director Paul Fahy discuss Hughie's long association with Galway International Arts Festival, including his latest exhibition, Night Cargo. 

In this episode, Pulitizer Prize nominee Dael Orlandersmith, writer, performer and theatre maker, discusses the experiences and ideas which inform much–praised works like Forever, Beauty’s Daughter and Yellowman. She is interviewed by Professor Patrick Lonergan, Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies, NUI Galway. Dael Orlandersmith's First Thought Talk was recorded in front of a live audience duri...

In this episode, Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and now head of the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, will talk about possibly the single most important issue facing humanity.  This episode was recorded in front of a live audience in July 2019 at NUI Galway. 

In this week's Vinyl Hours episode, host Tiernan Henry talks to Liz Nugent, the bestselling author of Unravelling Oliver, Lying In Wait, Skin Deep, and Our Little Cruelties. Please note that song excerpts have been edited out of the podcast for copyright reasons. You can listen to Liz's full Vinyl Hours playlist on Galway International Arts Festival's Spotify page: http://spoti.fi/2OwJhHz This epi...

In this 15-minute interview, playwright Enda Walsh and Galway International Arts Festival Artistic Director Paul Fahy discuss their ongoing collaboration on the Rooms series of immersive theatre installations.  ​ Changing Room, which premiered as part of GIAF's Autumn Edition, is the latest in the series and follows on from Room 303, A Girl’s Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom, Office 33A and Waiting Room...

Welcome to Part 2 of our Vinyl Hours conversation with Ireland’s renowned concert orchestra conductor and choirmaster David Brophy, hosted by Tiernan Henry. To listen to David Brophy's full playlist, visit GIAF's Spotify page here http://bit.ly/DavidBrophyPlaylist. This episode was recorded as part of Galway International Arts Festival's September 2020 Autumn Edition, in front of a socially distan...

For the first time, Galway International Arts Festival's popular Vinyl Hours music discussion series is available as a podcast. In this episode, Vinyl Hours host Tiernan Henry chats to Ireland’s world renowned concert orchestra conductor and choirmaster David Brophy about the music he loves. Please note that song excerpts have been edited out of the conversation for copyright reasons. To listen to...

The global pandemic has distracted everyone from another problem facing the planet, for which there is no vaccine: climate change and its predictable disastrous effects on our lives. In 2019, First Thought Talks hosted a fascinating and inspiring talk with four of the young people involved in the schools’ protests for action on climate change, in conversation with Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan. I...

Does Culture Drive Human Evolution? Gaia Vince thinks it does. She claims that four evolutionary drivers – Fire, Language, Beauty and Time – are further transforming our species into a superorganism, a hyper–cooperative mass of humanity that she calls Homo omnis, or ’Homni’. Drawing on cutting–edge advances in population genetics, archaeology, palaeontology and neuroscience, her book Transcendence...

The COVID–19 pandemic has exposed deep fractures in many countries in how we organise our societies, in our capacity to care for our most vulnerable citizens and in the systems that govern our lives. Some of us hope for change in these systems when we finally escape COVID’s clutches. Will the dreadful death toll, the economic devastation and the obvious deficiencies in our public services encourag...

Our nearest neighbour seems to be in an ongoing state of division and uncertainty for the last number of years, a situation which has been further exacerbated by the COVID–19 pandemic. With the arrival of Brexit, where to next for an increasingly disunited kingdom? John Lanchester, novelist and journalist, known for explaining the 2007 financial crisis to us all and Fintan O’Toole, one of Ireland’...

What happened in Ireland during the Spanish Flu pandemic just over 100 years ago? Who died, how, and what did the authorities do to manage the disease? Did we learn from that experience? Will we learn from this one? Dr. Ida Milne, historian and author of Stacking the Coffins: Influenza, War and Revolution in Ireland, and Fergal Bowers, RTÉ Health Correspondent, are joined in conversation with Dr....

Ireland’s participation in the soccer World Cup in Italy in 1990, 30 years ago, was a defining time for the country, leading to community bonding, national pride and general elation. Jack Charlton, alas no longer with us, became an object of national veneration for getting us so far in the competition before Italy put a stop to our gallop. The Irish fans distinguished themselves as fans and revell...

The grotesque murder of George Floyd, filmed by a brave 17–year–old girl, shocked the world into a fresh realisation of racism and its consequences in the United States. We also need to look nearer to home and to articulate and hear what people of colour have experienced here in Ireland. In this episode, Tobi Lawal, Felicia Olusanya and Amanda Adewole discuss how they have experienced racism in Ir...

The majority in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU but has failed to insist on a course which is, arguably, very much in its best interests. What are the divisions within Northern society that have led to the current situation, and how will Brexit play out for the different communities there? In this episode, we'll hear from Glenn Paterson, novelist and author of Backstop Land and Claire H...

How has Ireland managed the novel coronavirus COVID–19? Were we ready for it? Did the government make the right choices? What isthe science now on the virus? In this episode, hear from Luke O’Neill, Professor of Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin, Dr. Catherine Motherway, intensive care specialist at University Hospital, Limerick, Paul Moynagh, Professor of Biology at Maynooth University, and ...

100 years ago this 21 November, over 30 people were killed in three separate events: the assassination of British intelligence agents by Michael Collins’ Squad in the morning, the shooting in reprisal of civilians at a match in Croke Park in the afternoon, and the torture and killing of Dick McKee, Peadar Clancy and Conor Clune at Dublin Castle that night. History is turning its gaze on violence a...

How do we think about the domestic situation in the United States, and America’s role in the world, as the November 2020 presidential election approaches? Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize–winning author, Harvard professor, and US Ambassador to the United Nations under President Barack Obama from 2013-2017, will discuss the current state of America and her recent fascinating memoir, The Education of...