Documentary on One - RTÉ Documentaries

Kathriona Devereux has inherited a small hotel in Clogheen, Co. Tipperary. ‘Vee house’ has huge emotional value to her, and it has been in her family for years. But the hotel has been closed since her childhood. Kathriona is trying to decide what to do with it – should she keep it, live in it, run it as a business or get rid of it? (First Broadcast 2016)

To mark the beginning of the Olympics in Rio, a documentary on a group of people who listen to the events more than watch them: TV Sport sound designers. They use their skills to enhance the pictures but sometimes add little touches of their own - to some people’s annoyance. (A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4.) Broadcast 2016

In August 1916, the British executed a very unusual rebel figure:  a knight-cum-Irish rebel who honed his nationalism in ‘Belgian’ Congo in Africa - Sir Roger Casement.  From Dublin and Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, he was captured in Kerry. Then, imprisoned in the Tower of London, he was, as the saying goes, “hanged on a comma”.(Broadcast 2016) 

James Whelan is a 15 year old from Dublin’s inner city. He is a horse owner and discusses the enjoyment he gets from owning the animal. Many youths in the area keep horses but face opposition from the local community. James left school early but works for a French polishing business to earn an income for the upkeep of the horse. (First Broadcast 1997)

Joe Flynn and his wife Mary from Westmeath wrote ‘The Broken Hearted Farmer’ in the late 1960s - a song that told the story of farming protests at that time. They were hoping for a No. 1 hit, but it never happened. They have always believed RTÉ banned the song due to government pressure. 50 years later we find out what really happened… (2016)

The Italian fish and chip families of Parnell Street, Artane and Rialto in Dublin recall how they started their businesses following immigration to Ireland. The Borza and Fusco families moved from the Lazio region of Italy to Ireland and established a community in their new country as well as thriving fish and chip shops. (First Broadcast 1991)

In the 1940's the Irish state secretly recruited its own native executioner. Counted as one of Ireland's great historical mysteries, the true identity of this Irish hangman has never been revealed. We’ve spent over 2 years searching for this man, from Dublin to Manchester to Swaziland – and finally to Cork. He believed he’d never be found… (2016)

Dubarry’s shoe factory in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway was set up in 1937. Shoemakers were brought in from Leicester in the U.K. to work at the new factory. The widow of a shoemaker who moved to Ireland to work in Dubarry’s recalls the difficulties of immigration. She found the quiet of the countryside hard to get used to, but enjoyed sitting by the river. (First Broadcast 1991)

Margaret Kearney Taylor was a woman who kept many secrets. She was known as the Irishwoman who ran an elegant tearoom in Madrid, Spain for more than fifty years . But she was also was part of a network which helped thousands of Allied servicemen and Jewish refugees escape the Nazi regime in Europe during World War 2 (broadcast 2016)

Lasting between the 1st of July and the 18th of November 1916, The Battle of the Somme was to become one of the defining moments of the First World War.  The first day of the battle alone saw British Forces sustain some 60,000 casualties.  Recollections of the great watershed battle of World War I including extracts from a hitherto unpublished diary written on the front. (First Broadcast 1989) 

Vere Goold was Ireland’s first tennis star, winning titles in this new sport in 1879. He was born into an aristocratic family in Waterford and met his wife Marie, who posted an ad for a husband with ‘a title’. Thirty years after triumph at Wimbledon, Goold would commit murder on the French Riviera. (First Broadcast 2016)

Emma Cahill had a dream of representing Ireland at the Olympics on the National Showjumping team. But in 2011 those dreams were ended when Emma suffered an accident, when a horse fell on her. Emma was paralysed from the waist down. The story of how Emma returned to pursue her dreams of becoming an international equestrian athlete and to dance again in high heels. (First Broadcast 2016)

In 1916, Thomas Manning left Ireland to work in the copper mines of Butte, Montana. Mining hotspots like West Cork were dying – emigration to America seemed the only choice. However, just 4yrs later, on a union strike mixed in the politics of the day, Thomas was shot and murdered. 95yrs later, we go in search of his forgotten story (Broadcast 2015)

The first in a series of documentaries by Lorelei Harris investigating immigration to Ireland. In this episode Abiodan Odomosu from Nigeria and Camilla Dorsey from Lesotho speak about how they moved from their homes in Africa to eventually arrive in Ireland. Each person has a unique story. (First Broadcast 1991)

August 2013 - Ibrahim Halawa, a 17yr old Irish student, left his Dublin home for Cairo. Within months he was facing the death penalty and has since spent the last 3yrs in an Egyptian Prison. Peter Greste, an acclaimed journalist, shared a cell with Ibrahim. For the first time, this is his searing eyewitness account of the controversial case (2016)