Think You Know... The Presidents?

A president of poetry, passion, and politics, Michael D Higgins bows out of his two term presidency next month. For some, he leaves a national treasure who spoke from his head and his heart and who, along with his wife Sabina, made the Áras a house of welcome and inclusion. For others, he was a head of state who sometimes pushed too vigorously against the boundaries of his office. But everyone lov...

From the Ardoyne to two stints in the Áras, Mary McAleese's presidency was shaped by her Northern upbringing and driven by a mission to unite communities. But her efforts to build bridges were often met with anger from some political and religious quarters, while Ireland itself went from the boom-time Celtic Tiger riches to an era of financial bail-outs and austerity. Lise Hand and Flor Mac Carthy...

Mary Robinson didn't just win the presidency in 1990, she blew the dusty doors off Áras an Uachtaráin. That win was a seismic day for Ireland - we had our first woman president, and Ireland was on the cusp of great change, culturally, socially and economically. Mná na hÉireann finally had a voice. In this episode of Think You Know...The Presidents?, presenters Lise Hand and Flor Mac Cart...

Patrick Hillery's two-term presidency is often dismissed as largely uneventful - he played golf, travelled the world on state visits and flew under the radar on home affairs. But in this episode of Think You Know...The Presidents?, Lise Hand and Flor Mac Carthy find just the opposite. Did you know that Hillery was forced to deal with scurrilous rumours of an extramarital affair at a time when the...

Meddling or misunderstood? These are just some of the questions that surround Cearbhail Ó Dálaigh's controversial (and short) term as president. The legal eagle managed to ruffle the feathers of many government officials during his time with one minister branding him a "thundering disgrace". But why was he so divisive? In this episode, Lise Hand and Flor Mac Carthy get colourful in both their lang...

Our fourth president is something of a tragic tale which begins with his revolutionary father who was executed in 1922, while his then 16 year old son was taken out of his British boarding school to say goodbye. Childers' ambitions for a new style presidency was brimming with promise, winning national support in 1973 before his term was tragically cut short. In this episode, Lise Hand and Flor Mac...

Why would Éamon de Valera - rebel, revolutionary and Ireland's third president - be cancelled if he was around today?  In the third episode of Think You Know...The Presidents, Lise Hand and Flor MacCarthy get to grips with some of the more questionable actions of the man referred to as the 'long fellow', and why did he seem to love dressing up so much?  This and more - including our very...

Seán T. O’Kelly brought political  savvy and international flair as head of a newly-fledged nation trying to figure out its place  in the world. It was during O’Kelly’s terms in office that the Áras became the party-spot for high-flying night-owls. But behind the scenes, his two terms were not without their  controversies. How did this diplomat manage to massively annoy both th...

To quote the show FRIENDS, "he was the one with the moustache." Welcome to 'Think You Know... The Presidents?' a Today FM original podcast brought to you by The Last Word. Episode 1 travels back in time to 1938, when Ireland appointed its first president.  But why was Douglas Hyde chosen? What happened when WWII broke out right after his inauguration? And why did we call WWII ‘The Emergency’...

Did you know a leprechaun was sent to the White House?  That there’s a bomb shelter under Dublin’s Merrion Square? That we had a president who swore live on national radio and another one married two sisters? They’re just some of the wild, wonderful and downright bizarre stories you probably won’t have known about Ireland’s presidents.  If the walls of the Áras could talk, we’d have a fu...