Irish Stew Podcast

John Lee & Martin Nutty
  • 4.8 (25)
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Irish Stew, the podcast for the Global Irish Nation featuring interviews with fascinating influencers proud of their Irish Edge. If you're Irish born or hyphenated Irish, this is the podcast that brings all the Irish together Listen Notes

  1. Stew in Review: Irish Stew Cohosts Toast 2025

    2D AGO

    Stew in Review: Irish Stew Cohosts Toast 2025

    Irish Stew couldn’t make it to Dublin, so cohost Martin Nutty and John Lee settled for the Dublin House, a venerable watering hole on New York’s Upper West Side, known for its low-key vibe, high quality pints and its 10-foot-tall neon sign in the shape of a harp that has been lighting the way to a great craic for decades. The occasion was a meet-up over a pair of those pints for “Stew in Review,” a holiday retrospective on their 2025 season.   Martin reflected on the core message of the Joseph Kennedy III episode as the former US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland advocates for the healing power of civility over the destructive impulse of rage. John notes for craic it’s hard to top the episode recorded in the cavernous, cacophonous Common Market with Belfast Night Czar Michael Stewart and Belfast Food Tours’ Caroline Wilson, and for raw, riveting emotions the episode with Northern Irish actors John Duddy and Ciaran Byrne as they relived their experiences of The Troubles. That was one of two episodes of Irish Stew recorded live before a (paying!) audience as part of the Origin Theatre First Irish Festival, a 2025 highlight made possible by then artistic director Mick Mellamphy, an high-energy experience the pair hopes to expand on in the year to come. With a pint or two oiling the conversational gears the pair shared recollections of The Irish Stew residency at the Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival, a standout episode with the groundbreaking Irish president Mary Robinson, the sense of commitment to community they found throughout their Off the Beaten Craic in the Hidden Heartlands Road Trip, the destination dining at Thyme Restaurant in Athlone, and the serendipitous stories they stumbled upon in their off-season Midlands ramble. The podcasters also raise a toast to their travel partner Tourism Ireland, media partner IrishCentral, the Dublin House for welcoming them into their cozy confines, and, above all, the folks who lend their ears--the listeners. The episode wraps with a sneak preview of what’s to come in 2026, and, after settling their bar tab, the podcasters head back into the windy winter weather on West 79th Street, pausing for a selfie under the glowing green harp that heralds the Dublin House. Irish Stew Links WebsiteInstagramLinkedInEpisode Details: Season 7, Episode 37; Total Episode Count: 140

    28 min
  2. Keeping Hope Afloat with Sean Granahan of The Floating Hospital

    DEC 15

    Keeping Hope Afloat with Sean Granahan of The Floating Hospital

    In this season of giving, Irish Stew welcomes Pennsylvania-born lawyer-turned-nonprofit leader Sean Granahan, the president of The Floating Hospital, a 160-year-old New York charity with deep Irish roots that still cares for the city’s poorest families. Founded in 1866 out of Trinity Church in the wake of the Civil War Draft Riots, it first served emancipated Black families and post–famine Irish immigrants crowded into lower Manhattan’s notorious Five Points district. In the episode, Sean connects those early Irish arrivals, once left to die of tuberculosis considered “the natural death of the Irish,” to today’s homeless families in New York’s shelters, many fleeing violence, eviction, or aging out of foster care. Sean describes the organization’s founding mission as a “three-legged stool” of meeting immediate needs, sharing health education, and delivering care, a model that still guides its work as New York city’s largest provider of healthcare to families in homeless shelters and domestic violence safe houses. He recounts the organization’s colorful maritime era, when their ships took kids and moms out for fresh-air harbor cruises while they received vaccines, essential services, and vital health education. Sean had to hit pause on that chapter after 9/11 when their vessel, the Lia, was retired to a dock well up the Hudson River. The Floating Hospital may not be floating now, but the work continues full speed ahead at its Long Island City base and satellite sites where 30,000 people are cared for annually, from pediatric and vaccination services to mental health and dental care. Sean insists that their clean, bright, dignified, welcoming clinics have as much an impact on patient outcomes as their healthcare services. That ethos comes alive in “Candy Cane Lane,” a holiday pop-up where homeless moms and kids experience the joy of holiday shopping as they choose free new coats, pajamas, toys, and hygiene items. With Mayo and Dublin roots, Sean tells how his high-flying corporate law career was rerouted when he volunteered to help the then struggling Floating Hospital, and how he and his staff navigate through shifting political headwinds and funding threats. And after 20 years at the helm, he still dreams big, yearning for the day The Floating Hospital floats again! “The ship is magical,” he says of his quest to refit the Lia and sail it again. “If you want to get 500 kids vaccinated, all you do is say, ‘We’re going out on the ship on Friday,’ and you’ll have a thousand.” The episode closes with a “season of giving” invitation to make a holiday gift to The Floating Hospital or join their “Tugboat Society” of small monthly givers keeping homeless moms and kids afloat. But to really understand this uniquely Irish New York story, you’ll want to hear Sean tell it himself on Irish Stew. Links The Floating Hospital WebsiteFacebookInstagramLinkedInThreadsBlueSkySean Granahan LinkedInIrish Stew Links WebsiteInstagramLinkedInEpisode Details: Season 7, Episode 37; Total Episode Count: 140

    49 min
  3. “That Beats Banagher!” with Historian James Scully & Horse Racing’s Mark Boylan - Day 5

    DEC 8

    “That Beats Banagher!” with Historian James Scully & Horse Racing’s Mark Boylan - Day 5

    The Irish Midlands flow to the relentless rhythm of the River Shannon and along its banks the Irish Stew podcasters found themselves again, Day Five of their “Off the Beaten Craic in the Hidden Heartlands” wanderings, gazing across its broad expanse from the docks of the County Offaly town of Banagher. There, cohosts John Lee and Martin Nutty met local historian James Scully and caught up with an old friend of John’s, Mark Boylan, who covers horseracing for The Irish Field, to explore the history, legend, music, and all that gives life and character to this small Shannon-side community with a population aspiring to hit the 2,000 mark. James met us at the cozy, convivial Flynn's Pub on Main Street, but the craic there proved too mighty for recording purposes, so the trio beat a retreat to the hilltop Church of St Paul's for what proved to be Irish Stew’s first recording in a church (but not their last as you’ll hear in the final Hidden Heartlands episode). A lifelong educator and noted local historian, James set about unraveling the history of the old Irish saying, “That Beats Banagher!,” in a book of the same name which he co-wrote with Kieran Keenaghan. In this richly illustrated volume they explore the murky provenance of “That Beats Banagher!” and how it entered Irish political and cultural lore. A beguiling spinner of the town’s stories, James shares tales of the earliest days of the town, the arrival of the international man of mystery from the 1600s Matthew de Renzy, the town’s unexpected literary links to Anthony Trollope and Charlotte Brontë, Banagher’s vibrant community life, and its status as a popular port of call for the river cruising crowd. They started the day in a pub, absolved their sins in a church, and then retreated to a pub, J.J. Hough’s Singing Pub, a renowned destination for trad music fans and tourists alike run by Ger Hough, who IrishCentral called the most creative publican in Ireland. There they met David and Mark Boylan who John got to know when the Breeders’ Cup flew the whole Boylan family to Kentucky so the then 14-year-old Mark could sing his Breeders’ Cup song before about 80 thousand fans at Churchill Downs for the 2011 World Championship race meet. Mark may be all grown up but he hasn’t outgrown his love of horses and of his hometown of Banagher which shines through in the closing segment. And in such a small, tight-knit community it was no surprise to learn that James was Mark’s teacher at St Rynagh’s School. Well, that beats Banagher! Next week Irish Stew hits pause on their Off the Beaten Craic series to embrace the season of giving with the story of a New York City charity rooted in the plight of the impoverished Irish immigrants in the notorious Five Points district in our conversation with Sean Granahan, president of The Floating Hospital. Links James Scully Book: That Beats Banagher!Mark Boylan The Irish FieldXInstagramFacebookHidden Heartlands Travel Resources Ireland.comDiscover Ireland’s Hidden HeartlandsIrish Stew Links WebsiteInstagramLinkedInEpisode Details: Season 7, Episode 36; Total Episode Count: 139

    48 min
  4. Birr Castle - Citadel of Science, with Historian Brian Kennedy - Day 4 - Part 2

    DEC 1

    Birr Castle - Citadel of Science, with Historian Brian Kennedy - Day 4 - Part 2

    Ireland has no shortage of stately manors, but as Irish Stew hosts Martin Nutty and John Lee learned, no other historic property has a legacy like Co. Offaly’s Birr Castle Demesne, which for generations has been an incubator of breakthroughs in engineering and science. With local historian and educator Brian Kennedy as their guide, the podcasters share the story of the Victorian-era, steampunk-style construction of timber, iron, and stonework that was the world’s largest telescope from 1845 to 1917. Built by William Parsons, the 3rd Earl of Rosse, “The Leviathan of Parsonstown” as it became known is a 20-foot-tall engineering marvel that enabled the Earl to map light-years distant nebulae with stunning accuracy that rivals modern Hubble telescope images. Brian points out that the Parsons family's 400-year legacy includes what’s thought to be one of the world's earliest surviving suspension bridges on the grounds, Charles Parsons' invention of the steam turbine, and the work of photography pioneer Mary Wilmer Field, the 3rd Countess of Rosse. Her 1850s glass plate photographs are preserved in Ireland’s Historic Science Centre at Birr, which not only tells the Birr science story in historical artifacts and interactive displays, but that of Ireland as well. And Birr is still writing that science story today as it hosts the Irish station of the Europe-wide LOFAR radio telescope network, which in 2018 observed for the first time a billion-year-old red-dwarf, flare star. Add botany and horticulture to the science mix with multi-generational botanical treasures on display across the expansive grounds including 17th-century box hedges (among the world's tallest), specimens from China and South America, and Victorian glasshouses under restoration. “There's something in bloom every day of the year, throughout the whole year of plants from right throughout the world.” Brian says. The conversation wraps with a discussion of the town's transformation from "Parsonstown" back to its original Irish name, its connection to St. Brendan's monastery, the charming town’s rich Georgian heritage, and things to see and do “off the beaten craic” in Birr’s environs. But for Brian, it all starts with the Birr Castle Demesne, “Come early in the morning because one day is just not enough to take in all that the castle has to offer,” he advises. Next week Irish Stew makes one more stop in Co. Offaly at the River Shannon town of Banagher where John and Martin record their first (but not their last) episode in a church! Links Birr Castle Demesne WebsiteFacebookInstagramLinkedInXYouTubeTikTokHidden Heartlands Travel Resources Ireland.comDiscover Ireland’s Hidden HeartlandsIrish Stew Links WebsiteEpisode Page: Brian KennedyInstagramLinkedInXFacebookEpisode Details: Season 7, Episode 35; Total Episode Count: 138

    36 min
  5. Peatlands for Prosperity’s Promise with Douglas McMillan & Donie Regan - Day 4 - Part 1

    NOV 24

    Peatlands for Prosperity’s Promise with Douglas McMillan & Donie Regan - Day 4 - Part 1

    The poet Seamus Heaney once said, "I think of the bog as a feminine goddess-ridden ground, rather like the territory of Ireland itself." And that territory is 14- to- 21 percent bog. So, on their fourth day “Off the Beaten Craic in the Hidden Heartlands,” Irish Stew cohosts John Lee and Martin Nutty head to Shinrone in Offaly near the Tipperary border to the farm of Donie Regan, a demonstration site for Peatlands for Prosperity, the brainchild of Douglas McMillan and his Green Restoration Ireland Cooperative team. Doug explains how centuries of peat extraction left expanses of degraded bogland, often dismissed as wastelands. But they’re fields of dreams for Doug who outlines how rewetting bogs halts carbon loss, restores biodiversity, and opens the opportunity to the wet farming techniques known as paludiculture. Using Donie’s farm as a showroom for how paludiculture can restore economic value to bog land, Peatlands for Prosperity is testing potential hydrophilic cash crops such as bog berries, cranberries, even lettuce and celery, as well as common wetland plants like bullrushes and common reeds which can be renewable sources of building and packaging materials. Both believe wetland agriculture can offer farmers meaningful new income streams from both these kinds of crops and from earning carbon credits for maintaining carbon-sequestering bogs. The conversation probes the challenges of farmer hesitancy, policy confusion, cultural ties to turf cutting, and how the demonstration site helps other farmers see the program’s potential. Donie speaks passionately about witnessing wildlife return to his land, and the team discusses educational outreach, including bringing schoolchildren onto the bog to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards, the ecotourism possibilities of restored boglands, and how transforming Ireland’s peatlands could be a win-win for climate, biodiversity, farmers, and rural communities alike. But let’s give Seamus Heaney the last word from his poem Bogland: Our unfenced country  Is bog that keeps crusting  Between the sights of the sun Next week Irish Stew reports from Birr Castle with a focus on the groundbreaking science done there, exemplified by the world’s largest telescope for 72 years, the mighty Leviathan of Parsonstown. Links Green Restoration Ireland  WebsitePeatlands for ProsperityFacebookYouTubeLinkedInInstagramBlueskyX Douglas McMillan LinkedInHidden Heartlands Travel Resources Ireland.comDiscover Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands Irish Stew Links WebsiteEpisode Page: Peatlands for ProsperityInstagramLinkedInXFacebook

    41 min
  6. Growing Green with Organic Farmers Pippa Hackett & Margaret Edgill - Day 3

    NOV 17

    Growing Green with Organic Farmers Pippa Hackett & Margaret Edgill - Day 3

    How did Ireland become a food destination? Thanks go to chefs like John Coffey of Athlone’s Thyme Restaurant and Belfast’s Niall McKenna of the Waterman House, both past Irish Stew guests. But ask those chefs that question and they’ll thank their lucky stars for the local producers who supply the fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, seafood, and dairy that make their cooking soar. So Irish Stew went Off the Beaten Craic to Daingean, Co. Offaly, to talk with two farmers on the vanguard of Ireland’s organic agriculture boom in an historic Georgian farmhouse at the heart of Mount Briscoe Organic Farm. Margaret Edgill set aside her marketing and event planning career in Dublin to take over Mount Briscoe, which her family has farmed for seven generations. Joining her for the conversation was her Geashill, Co. Offaly neighbor Pippa Hackett, also an organic farmer and Ireland’s former Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Margaret describes the privilege of stewarding Mount Briscoe and the many ways she’s infusing renewed life and new ideas into the land with a mix of organic beef production, upscale B&B accommodations, a shade more rustic “glamping” experiences, artisan food production, memorable farm-to-fork experiences, and public programs designed to celebrate the traditions and vitality of rural life. Pippa draws on her background in science and public service to champion greener, more sustainable farming practices, sharing insights shaped by her years on the farm and in government. “If you have a healthy environment and a healthy farm, you’re going to have healthy animals and produce healthy foods,” she says, adding that with organic farming, “There's a great sort of magic in it--you actually have to do less work to get more." The pair delve into Ireland’s “Origin Green” brand, the ongoing debate between organic and conventional farming methods, the lopsided economics that farmers juggle, the benefits of Irish people consuming Irish produce, and how hands-on rural experiences can counteract the growing urban disconnect with what’s on their plates. Margaret offers her “wellies-on-the-ground” perspectives as both a farmer and owner of an agritourism business adding to the Hidden Heartlands tourism mix, talking up Ireland's potential as a green island destination, sharing how North Americans come to Mount Briscoe seeking heritage, tranquility, and authentic farm experiences, how guests look to disconnect with a digital detox, and how as climate change is making traditionally hot destinations less appealing, she’s seeing first-hand the growing appeal “cool-cationing” in Ireland…even with its rainy days. And it was a rainy day indeed when Irish Stew visited Mount Briscoe Farm, but to cohosts John and Martin, the lush fields looked all the greener for it. Next week Irish Stew visits another Offlay farm and slogs through a bog to explore the innovative Peatlands for Prosperity initiative. Links Margaret Edgill LinkedInInstagramFacebookMount Briscoe Farm WebsiteInstagramFacebookPippa Hackett WebsiteLinkedInInstagram

    44 min
  7. Hidden Heartlands History Hike with Athlone’s Vincent Harney - Day 2 - Part 2

    NOV 10

    Hidden Heartlands History Hike with Athlone’s Vincent Harney - Day 2 - Part 2

    Despite the “Off the Beaten Craic” theme to the current Irish Stew podcast series, on this episode hosts Martin Nutty and John Lee follow the well-worn track of history that flows through Athlone like the broad River Shannon. Their guide is the affable Vincent Harney of Athlone Guided Tours, a well-researched, perceptive storyteller who peels back the layers of the Athlone story from atop Athlone Castle, while crossing the Shannon, and as they trod the ancient streets back into the very heart of Irish history. Along with local history, Vincent shares his story of growing up in a big farm family in nearby Cornafulla, the post office his parents operated, his own time as postmaster, and lessons learned working the family farm. “In the post office, I loved hearing the old people’s stories and hearing about their history. And we would know the history of the fields around us, like the one field given away for a loaf of bread during the famine,” Vincent recalls. Inspired by those stories, Vincent started a new career leading historical walking tours to share how Athlone’s origins as a river ford placed it at the crossroads of Irish history, how Norman and Cromwellian armies both marched over its first timber bridge, about the accommodation built into the stone bridge for the gentry's sail boats, and why the railway bridge was considered an engineering marvel of its day.   Vincent reveals Athlone's surprising connections to the Titanic disaster with the sad tale of the ill-fated passenger Margaret Rice, whose body could only be identified by the shoes she wore, purchased from the venerable Parsons of Athlone in the red brick building that still stands today at the corner of Custume Place and Northgate Street. Vincent spins a happier tale about Athlone native John McCormack, tracing the singer’s unlikely rise from a working-class family to global fame as one of the greatest tenors of all time. The episode wraps with Vincent making a compelling case for visiting Ireland and coming to Athlone when you do, reminding us, “the history of Ireland is here in Athlone.” Next week, Irish Stew talks organic farming and agritourism in Offaly with Margaret Edgill of Mt. Briscoe Farm and Pippa Hackett, former Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Links Athlone Guided Tours WebsiteInstagramFacebookTripadvisor Hidden Heartlands Travel Resources Ireland.comDiscover Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands Irish Stew Links WebsiteEpisode Page: Vincent HarneyInstagramLinkedInXFacebookTikTokEpisode Details: Season 7, Episode 32; Total Episode Count: 135

    34 min
  8. Sean's Bar Shanachie - Timmy Donovan - Day 2 - Part 1

    NOV 3

    Sean's Bar Shanachie - Timmy Donovan - Day 2 - Part 1

    The oldest pub in Ireland, Europe…the world? Lend an ear as we explore the legend and lore of Sean’s Bar with the pub’s official storyteller Timmy Donovan. A central character in the Sean’s Bar story for the past 37 years, Timmy flips the calendar back to AD 900 when Luain Mac Luighdeach set up an inn on the banks of the Shannon which would evolve over the centuries into the Sean’s Bar of today. He points out the ancient wicker-and-wattle construction unearthed in the venerable pub’s plaster walls and the slanting floor that carried medieval floodwaters through the bar down to the nearby river as just two signs of the pub’s antiquity. Of the eye-catching memorabilia layering the pub’s walls, Timmy may be the proudest of the Guinness World Record certificate proclaiming Sean’s to be the oldest pub in the world. That and the monster trout on display that Timmy himself landed in the nearby Lough, evidence of the prime fishing that has long drawn anglers to the region. Timmy tells the saga of the Vikings sailing up the Shannon deep into the Hidden Heartlands, how for local monks distilling whiskey was doing God’s work, why hundreds of police uniform patches festoon the pub walls, and how American football fans are beating a path to Sean’s door. Sean’s Bar not only dispenses a full range of pints and pours, the legendary pub also serves its own Sean's Whiskey, now an integral part of the pub's identity, for which Timmy is a most compelling spokesperson. The monks would be proud, Timmy.  Sláinte! LINKS  Sean’s Bar WebsiteFacebookInstagram Hidden Heartlands Travel Resources Ireland.comDiscover Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands Irish Stew Links WebsiteEpisode Page: Timmy  DonovanInstagramLinkedInXFacebookTikTokEpisode Details: Season 7, Episode 31; Total Episode Count: 134

    30 min
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About

Irish Stew, the podcast for the Global Irish Nation featuring interviews with fascinating influencers proud of their Irish Edge. If you're Irish born or hyphenated Irish, this is the podcast that brings all the Irish together Listen Notes

Information

  • Creator
    John Lee & Martin Nutty
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    141
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Irish Stew Podcast
  • Show Website
    Irish Stew Podcast

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