A father and his 14-year-old daughter set out on a journey across Japan to discover why Irish traditional and Celtic music have become fused into Japanese culture. In recent years, Nihonjin (Japanese people) have picked up fiddles, whistles, bazoukis and uilleann pipes, and begun playing Irish traditional music. Now Japanese musicians are bringing their take on trad back to us in Ireland. Pavel and his daughter Edie attend the annual Féile Tokyo, which draws musicians and dancers from across...

Eirsat-1: Ireland’s First Satellite is the remarkable story of a group of young Irish scientists and engineers who are determined to make Ireland a space-faring nation – by designing, building and sending Ireland’s first satellite into space. Eirsat-1 is Ireland’s very first spacecraft, a research satellite that passes over our heads six times a day as it orbits the earth. Produced and presented by John Higgins, this moving documentary tells its story - and the incredible challenges faced...

‘45 Years of Listening’ tells the story of the Dublin Lesbian Line – an essential, landmark community-led resource – through a collection of personal reflections from one of the original founders, and current volunteers. Dublin Lesbian Line was founded in 1979 – a time in Ireland when homosexuality was invisible, unmentionable, and profoundly isolating – to provide a way for gay/queer/bi/questioning women to connect, meet, make friends, find a community, or even just to talk anonymously on...

Vision: The Story of Sister Margaret Coyne tells the remarkable story of  Irish nun Sister Margaret Coyne, who ran an eye clinic near the Ethiopian-Eritrean border for decades, saving the sight of countless thousands - often in the midst of war, conflict and famine. Produced and presented by her nephew John Higgins, her story is told in her own words and through the eyes of the Ethiopian and Irish people who know and worked with her -  from her sister Sabina Higgins, to the Spanish doctors...

In 2020, a few weeks after Ireland entered one of the longest COVID lockdowns in the world, Patrick Dexter began uploading videos online of him playing the cello outside his cottage in County Mayo. In a matter of weeks, his life had changed forever. Producer Hugh Hick and Documentary on Newstalk bring you an intimately-told story of music and landscapes – and the part both play in our lives, sometimes without us realising it. Born and raised in Dublin, Patrick Dexter spent most of his...

Here on Documentary and Drama on Newstalk, Ben Finnegan has travelled to the African country of Malawi to look at the effects of climate change, and how organisations like Trócaire are helping them in 'Low Emissions, High Price: Climate Change in Malawi'.

Citadel is a group of musicians formed at the Kinsale Road Accommodation centre in Cork city in 2018, who refuse to be put down by the system. They are from different countries, such as Burundi, South Africa, DR Congo, Angola and Tanzania. The musicians perform songs from home, accompanied by rhythms and tunes from around the world. Citadel have played many concerts around Ireland and help to build bridges with the Irish community through their music. Some of the musicians are refugees,...

Documentary and Drama on Newstalk brings you the almost forgotten true tale of Laurence Carroll, a working-class Dubliner turned sailor, who embarked on a journey that traversed continents, identities, and cultures.   This documentary, titled Laurence Carroll’s Mindful Anarchy: U Dhammaloka, The Irish Buddhist of Rangoon, tells the story of an Irishman, who, after ordaining as a Buddhist monk in the early 1900’s, under his monastic name U Dhammaloka, ascended to celebrity status throughout...

Making Ireland Home, Henry McKean celebrates becoming an Irish citizen after 30 years with new Irish citizens.

Documentary on Newstalk presents a new documentary by producers Alan Meaney and Amanda Gunning go behind the scenes at the Another Love Story music festival in Co. Meath. One of Ireland’s premier small festivals, Another Love Story has been running since 2014. Set in the beautiful surrounds of Killyon Manor House Co. Meath over 3 days in August, the festival showcases both Irish and international acts. It is a custom-made festival with a focus on sustainability, smaller crowds, and an...

This documentary was produced by Valerie McHugh, with interviewee Aisling Smith and voiceover artist Jessica Bourke. It highlights Aisling's story with OCD, and her journey to recovery. It also includes a voiceover dramatisation of other people's experiences with OCD who have asked to remain anonymous.

Documentary on Newstalk presents a new documentary by independent producer Bairbre Flood. "Jewish Ireland" is an exploration of Jewish Irish history and culture - from Deli 613, to the Irish Jewish Museum: historians, musicians and Jewish groups and individuals share different aspects of modern Jewish culture in Ireland.  Edwin Alkin talks us through the various artefacts, photographs and exhibitions at the Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin, and explains some of the history of Jewish people in...

Climate change, civil war in the south, a breakaway region in the north, hunger, internal displacement: these are just some of the issues facing Somalia.   Presenter Sean Moncrieff reports from the Horn of Africa in: Somalia: the complicated business of helping people. The Newstalk host spent a week with aid agency workers and UN officials who describe the often frustratingly slow process of trying to help a country off its knees: not just through the provision of aid, but trying to convince...

Documentary on Newstalk presents “The Iveagh Trust: How Ireland’s Richest Man Housed Dublin’s Poor”, in which producer Sarah Stacey explores the 133-year history of Ireland’s oldest housing charity. The Iveagh Trust was founded in 1890 by Edward Cecil Guinness, head of his family’s famous brewing empire, who at the time was the richest man in the country. His vision was to provide safe, clean and affordable housing to the working poor of Dublin. In the nineteenth century the city was home to...

A new radio documentary, 35 Years of GCN, produced by Shaun & Maurice for Documentary and Drama on Newstalk, explores the story of Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community through the pages of Ireland's longest-running free LGBTQ+ publication and press. The story of GCN (Gay Community News) is also the story of LGBTQ+ rights, history, and culture in Ireland. Since 1988, the magazine has reflected and documented the lives and lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people. The first issue of GCN was published from...

Documentary on Newstalk presents ‘The White Line’, a new documentary that reveals the shocking truth about how Irish Traveller children were treated in Irish schools and the unacknowledged apartheid that existed in the Irish education system for over 5 decades. Through personal testimony we hear how Traveller children were: kept separate from the settled children at all times; put in Traveller-only classrooms where they received little or no teaching; and were physically and mentally punished...

Documentary On Newstalk presents a new documentary by producer Pavel Barter.  Telling the forgotten story of how Irish immigrants built a Wild West mining town two miles high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in Cloud City.  This portrait of Irish diaspora, in one of America’s most ruthless settlements, explores the lives of two characters whose names live on in Leadville lore: Mart Duggan from Limerick, one of the most fearsome yet respected lawmakers in the American West; and Michael...

In “The First Hundred Years: Albert Dryer and the Irish National Association” producer J.J. O'Shea explores the aims and achievements of an important Irish Cultural organisation founded in 1915 in Sydney, Australia, and the life of the man who was the driving force behind the association. The story of the Irish in Australia remains a relatively unexamined aspect of the Irish emigration story and this programme shines a light on some surprising aspects of that story. "The First Hundred Years"...

Producer Michael Cullen introduces us to some of Ireland's most successful quizzers. "Know It All" looks at the quizzing scene in Ireland, and talks to some of its most successful participants, including two winners of Mastermind, and a winner of the million on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Producer Patricia Baker of Curious Broadcast takes a walk past the many famous and infamous statues and monuments in Dublin, in the radio documentary Dead White Men, and considers who and how we commemorate. By talking with academics and arts practitioners she asks questions about the monuments that we have chosen to destroy, those we have kept and those perhaps we should not. This is a walk through the monuments controversy past and present. Dead White Men is a Curious Broadcast...

Unbeatable Together presented by Henry McKean is a documentary which celebrates the Special Olympics in Berlin, with all the success and tears of emotion as Special Olympics Ireland brought home 75 medals.

New radio documentary ‘Tainted Blood’ lays bare the devastating impact of infected blood products on the Irish Haemophilia Community In 1982 the first case of HIV was recorded in Ireland. By 1985 all people with haemophilia were being tested for the disease. More than one third of them were found to be HIV positive having contracted the disease through infected blood products that were made up of pooled plasma from thousands of donors, much of which had been imported. Colm Walsh, who has...

Clonmany is a small village in rural Donegal. On the edge of the village is a long, narrow single-story building with a tin roof. This plain building is home to World Champions. This is the home of Clonmany Tug of War club, who train here in the autumn and winter nights, pulling together for another tilt at European and World glory. They build them big, and they dream big, in Clonmany. The World indoor championships are held every two years and will take place at the Aura Leisure Centre in...

Documentary On Newstalk presents "‘The Irish Divorce” an original radio series by Jonathan Farrelly. "The Irish Divorce - ‘When you and your spouse over time start leading completely separate lives and sleeping in different rooms, but don't divorce because you're Irish Catholics.” Told from the perspective of a Therapist and a couple that has gone through ‘an Irish Divorce’ and came out the other side, this series looks to uncover and go deep within the psychology of ‘The Irish Divorce’....