Short Talks

Tanjina Begum, Thelma Dube and Abiola show us how to make a dish from their home countries of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. Lamb biryani, a beef stew and jollof rice are on the menu and the chefs share with us their knowledge of cooking, their experiences living in Direct Provision, and their hopes that things will change soon when Direct Provision is abolished.

The programme is produced by Bairbre Flood, presented by Thelma Dube and funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland under the Sound and Vision scheme.

Producer Bairbre Flood talks to students and teachers and examines what the education system can learn from the success of this iconic Cork school. Funded by the BAI (Broadcasting Authority of Ireland).

Atheist Ireland (Dublin & Cork) members, parents bringing up their children outside religion; and an ex-Muslim, ex-Hindu, and ex-Catholic speak frankly about their experiences. Funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Mahdi wants to be a professional boxer when he grows up. Maisam is  going to be an artist. Both of them are navigating the varied forms of racism & segregation refugees face.

'I came from my own country just to be safe.

I don't feel myself safe.'

Baqir, an unaccompanied minor living in Moria refugee camp, shares his experiences, and his hopes for the future.

*part of a longer documentary, 'Against The Wire', for broadcast later in the year on Newstalk, (funded by the Simon Cumbers Media Fund).

In Ireland we're more familiar with thinking of ourselves as the victims of history - which we were - than as active participants in colonialism. But it's an uncomfortable fact that the Irish were also slave owners, slave traders, overseers and agents. We helped build the slave empire on behalf of Britain, France and other countries, and shared in the profits of this horrendous system over the course of several hundred years.

Talking to historians, academics and writers, producer Bairbre Flood traces the history of Irish involvement in the Atlantic Slave Trade, and examines some of the research in this area.

‘Ireland & The Slave Trade’ also looks at the anti-slavery movement at the time - and especially the visit of Frederick Douglass; the myth of the ‘white Irish slaves’ still doing the rounds on social media; and the growth of racism as a way of legitimising the enslavement of millions of African men, women and children.

Interviewees include:

Orla Power, author of Irish planters, Atlantic Merchants: The Development of St. Croix, Danish West Indies, 1750-1766, and numerous academic papers and articles on this subject.

Joe O’Shea, journalist and author of Murder, Mutiny, Mayhem:The Account of The Blackest-Hearted Villains From Irish History, O’Brien Press, (2012).

Nini Rodgers, historian, retired lecturer from Queen’s University, Belfast, and author of Ireland, Slavery and Anti-Slavery: 1645-1865, Palgrave Macmillan; 2007.

Kate Hodgson, lecturer in University College Cork in the areas of Francophone postcolonial literature and culture, slavery, abolition and the law, and contemporary French politics and society. Co-editor of Slavery, Memory and Identity: National Representations and Global Legacies, London: Pickering & Chatto, (2012)

Dr Ebun Joseph, lecturer in the first Black Studies Module to be taught in Ireland at University College Dublin, social activist, and co-editor of Challenging Perceptions of Africa in Schools -  Critical Approaches to Global Justice Education, Routledge, 2020.

Lee Jenkins, head of the Dept. of English in UCC, co-editor of Atlantic Crossings in the Wake of Frederick Douglass, Brill, 2017, and author of ‘Beyond the Pale: Frederick Douglass in Cork', in The Irish Review, 24, 1999.

The only Irish person recognised as Righteous Among the Nations for saving Jewish children during the Holocaust.

'We're seeing so much trauma...we've seen lots of young children who no longer speak.' - Elena Lydon, a nurse from Mayo who's volunteering in Lesvos.

Currently around 1,800 unaccompanied minors on the island, people stuck there with interview dates in 2022, and services increasingly overwhelmed.

If you're able to donate, please use her paypal account: tuomeys@gmail.com

A resident in Clonakilty Direct Provision Centre (The Lodge) explains why they felt the need to hold a protest in the Centre. (She preferred not to give her name). 

Three women describe their experience of seeking asylum in Ireland; the threat of deportation, what it means to be Irish, and how they deal with racism.

Elsie Nwaora, Nomaxabiso Maye & Florence Eriamantoe talk openly about their years in Direct Provision.

Home to 10,000 refugees before its eviction in 2016 – what was life like for people living in the unofficial refugee camp in Calais, France, aka The Jungle? (Funded by the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund.)