Rebel Matters Podcast

Tomás Mulligan is our guest for episode 105 of Rebel Matters. We discussed the supposed 'development' that was planned for the Cobblestone Bar last year, an institution of traditional music and a cultural hub in Dublin city. Tomás shares his family long standing and deep connection with the Cobblestone, talks about how they found out about the proposed plan, and how the protests took hold that ult...

In this episode Ainle chats to screenwriter, radio presenter, and at time of writing president of Radio Skidrow in Sydney Australia. The chat ranged from the importance of acknowledging the original people and place names of land that is now. most commonly known as Australia, Huna's work at Radio Skidrow, the challenges faced by the station during the pandemic, and the power of community radio. 

This is our first proper episode back after the bit of. Break over the last few months. I recorded this chat with Timmy and James from the Two Norries Podcast about 4 months ago in the social space at ACLAÍ.   This is such a special episode for me as I got to spend more time with Timmy and James who I first met when I was a guest on the 2 Norrries a while back. We chatted about some of the socio-e...

It has been 15 weeks since the last episode and this one is a short catchup with Ainle to get the ball rolling again. The chat veers towards ACLAÍ, one year anniversaries, music, and the plan for RMP in the upcoming weeks. There is a howling wind to be heard during this episode and a bit of whinging from Neansaí, the latest addition to the Rebel Matters household!

When I was in Belfast recently I put this special edition together featuring tracks from my mum's rather extensive and broad ranging CD collection. A nice way to spend an evening and something different than the regular Rebel Matters format! 

For the 100th episode I sat down with long term pal and guest from episode #6 Darragh Graham and he interviewed me rather than the standard format of me asking the questions. This is an informal chat covering quite a bit of ground, and something a little different for the 100th episode. We talked about the backdrop of the Rebel Matters Podcast, how the show has developed over the last four years,...

This weeks guest is builder Harrison Gardner, who I first got to know while attending his How To Build Everything Out Of Anything course in the summer of 2020. In this episode we chat about how Harrison got into the building game in the first place, his path to running his educational course at his home outside of Ennistymon County Clare where he lives with his wife Erin and their daughter Inari....

This weeks guest is Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, a founder of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) at the Bethlehem University.  Professor Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities. He previously served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Duke, and Yale Universities. He and his wife r...

This week's guest is Richard Howard, author of Space for Peace :  Fragments of the Irish Troubles in the Science Fiction of Bob Shaw and James White. We discuss the Irish science fiction movement and the lives of Shaw and White. We take a look at the social and political climate in which they lived, worked and wrote, and its inextricable influence on their creative output. 

This week is half solo-run and half conversation in memory of our dear friend and comrade Salah Ajarma who passed away suddenly at his home in the Aida refugee on the 14th of April 2020.   The solo-run section contains some reflections on trips to Palestine and time with Salah as well as a bit of a chat about the parallels between the political history here in Ireland and the current situation in...

Between the 9th and 11th of August 1971, the 1st Battalion of the British Army's Parachute Regiment murdered 11 innocent civilians on the streets of Ballymurphy, West Belfast. One of the victims was Briege's mother, 44 year old Joan Connolly. Briege talks about the events of the time, the recently concluded inquest into the massacre, and the decades-long battle that relatives have fought for justi...

The Useless Project was started by Geraldine Carton and Taz Kelleher in November 2018. Powered by energy, enthusiasm and positivity, the pair highlight the positive, accessible and pragmatic side to living a more sustainable lifestyle. Starting-off largely events-based, The Useless Project has expanded beyond the realms of swap shops and flea markets, merging into education, advocacy and online co...

Ep 93:  #SpyCops  - the Undercover Policing scandal, with Tom Fowler Back in January, we got in touch with a member of the Cardiff Anarchist Network named Tom Fowler, who was spied upon by an undercover police officer back in the early 2000s. For decades, individuals across the UK have been targeted by secret police due to their involvement in political activism and community organising. Citizens...

Today's episode, the 92nd in the series, coincides with International Women's Day. To mark the occasion we are joined by life-long civil rights activist Bernadette McAliskey and her daughter Deirdre McAliskey. Bernadette discussed the work she is currently undertaking with the South Tyrone Empowerment Program (STEP), her tour of America in 1969, the new generation in Ireland, and the local and les...

We're so pleased to get to speak with the relentlessly prolific underground Irish hip-hop artist and producer Craic Boi Mental. As well as being one half of Whip Mental (his project with his wife, Whip Girl), Craic Boi has released countless tapes, tracks and music videos under a multitude of distinctive hip-hop aliases such as Oscar Benso, Yung Gowl, Dudewithswag, Mili$, and King Flora. Humour, h...

We are very proud to be part of #DouglassWeek, the weeklong, wide-ranging celebration of the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass's visit to Ireland over 175 years ago. For this episode, we speak with historian Laurence Fenton, the author of Frederick Douglass in Ireland: 'The Black O'Connell'  and  'I Was Transformed' Frederick Douglass: An American Slave in Victorian Britain .  #DouglassWeek ru...

This week's episode is with artist, actor, peace activist, playwright and pirate radio queen, Margaretta D'Arcy. Margaretta has campaigned for decades on issues related to global peace and civil liberties. In 2014, Margaretta, then aged 80, served two prison sentences resulting from her opposition to the use of Shannon Airport by the US military.  Over the years, her activism has taken many forms....

Investigate this hideous din.  We welcome Ian Lynch as our first Rebel Matters guest of 2021! Many listeners will know Ian from the acclaimed folk group Lankum, and more recently from his podcast Fire Draw Near , a monthly show which investigates Irish traditional music and song in all of its myriad forms.  Try on the boots. Ian opens up about an unseen aspect of being in a regularly gigging band,...

This weeks show is a solo run episode with Ainle taking a news year's look at health. A kind of crossover episode encompassing Ainle's professional experience of over 15 years in the strength and conditioning field, personal thoughts on the health and fitness industry and how it often serves to exaggerate our insecurities for the benefit of selling us more rubbish, and some practical suggestions o...

In this episode, I talk to Kate McGrew (also known as Lady Grew) about sex work in Ireland and SWAI , the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland. SWAI is an organisation that works with sex workers for better access to rights, health and justice in Ireland. SWAI believes sex workers themselves should be at the centre of the development of policy which directly impacts upon their lives. We spoke about Kate's...

Stevie G is a DJ, radio presenter, a producer, a promoter and a youth worker who, for the past number of years, has been helping to nurture and amplify the creative expressions of Cork's young migrant communities.   Many people will be familiar with Stevie from his long-running show on Cork's RedFM and from spinning records in clubs all over. He started out DJing back in the early 90's at many leg...

This week's guest is Virginia O' Gara who co-founded the vegan food company My Goodness in Cork in 2014. We chatted about the Food Not Bombs movement, how Virginia learned Spanish from guerrilla fighters in Guatemala, the intersection of business and revolutionary politics, and the Cork Urban Soil Project. It was recorded in the social space of ACLAÍ in Cork while sipping on some lovely My Goodnes...

This weeks episode is a solo run with Ainle and is the first show in 5 weeks on account of a family bereavement. Ainle chats about a few aspects of his experience over the last month or so including thoughts about acceptance, meditation, and the importance of community. 

This week's guest is Dublin songwriter and producer Gemma Dunleavy whose recent EP 'Up De Flats' is a direct response to the ongoing developments in the Sheriff Street/Dublin 1 area. We chatted with her about the importance of community, how working class areas are often stigmatised & discriminated against, and about the danger posed to the area that she grew up in by ongoing commercial developmen...

This week I am in conversation with author, screenwriter, playwright and former Provisional IRA volunteer and prisoner of war Laurence McKeown. Laurence spent 70 days on hunger strike as part of the 1981 hunger strike in the H-Blocks gaol that resulted in 10 republican POWs giving their lives for political status, and that changed the course of Irish history and the struggle for freedom from Briti...