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Born in 1917 in Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare, Brendan O’Regan’s background was in hotel management and catering, working in the family hotel in Ennis, the St Stephen’s Green Club in Dublin and the world’s first duty-free shop in Shannon Airport, where he is credited with inventing Irish coffee. In 1959 he was appointed by Seán Lemass as the first head of the Shannon Airport Development Association (later known as the Shannon Free Airport Development Company), which stimulated the establishment not only of an industrial base in rural County Clare but also of a whole new town, Shannon. Retiring in 1977, he remained active, founding Co-operation North.

Despite these achievements, since his death in 2008 he has remained a somewhat obscure figure. To rectify this lacuna, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Frank Barry, Úna Ní Bhroiméil, Seán Donlon, Brian O’Connell and Brendan’s son, Andrew O’Regan.

(Recorded live on Sat 13 April ’24, @ Shannon College of Hotel Management, Co. Clare)


This Hedge School is supported by Sixmilebridge Historical Society.

Recorded on the  1 Feb  2024, at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street.
Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, to mark the 1500th anniversary of the passing of St Brigit, Ireland’s most notable female saint. But who was she?—a figure of history or of myth and legend?—a goddess and/or a feminist icon? With Edel Breathnach, Elva Johnston, Bairbre Ní Fhloinn and Niamh Wycherley.


This Hedge School is supported by the National Library of Ireland

(Image: Saint Bride by John Duncan, 1913. (National Galleries of Scotland)

To what extent did the Irish Free State’s joining the League of Nations a century ago realise Robert Emmet’s ambition? Join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with John Gibney, Michael Kennedy and Zoë Reid.


The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com



This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.

(Recorded at Maggie’s Tavern, St Johnston, Co. Donegal, on Saturday 28 October ’23)
Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, to mark the 421st anniversary of the passing of Red Hugh O’Donnell, the ‘Fighting Prince of Donegal’. But no discussion of Red Hugh would be complete without consideration of the real ‘mover and shaker’ in these events, the power behind the throne, his mother Iníon Dubh—with Billy Kelly, Matthew McGinty, Tomás Ó Brógáin and Éamonn Ó Ciardha.


This Hedge School is supported by the Red Hugh O’Donnell Society and Donegal County Council.

(Recorded at the Irish Film Institute on Wed 11 Oct ’23 as part of the Dublin Festival of History)


Listen to History Ireland editor Tommy Graham for a lively and interactive discussion on how the Irish Civil War was depicted on film, both at the time (newsreels) and subsequently (Michael Collins, The Wind that Shakes the Barley and other films), and how this has affected our understanding of the period—with Ciara Chambers, Dennis Condon, Brian Hanley and Kevin Rockett.


The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com



This Hedge School is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 initiative.

This Hedge School, recorded at the Electric Picnic, September 2023, was preceded by a performance of Paddy Cullivan’s The Two Murders of Wolfe Tone, which can be viewed at paddycullivan.com.


‘He landed in France with one hundred guineas in his pocket and had come near to altering the destiny of Europe’—so said Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, of Theobald Wolfe Tone, who died 225 years ago. To discuss Tone’s life and legacy, join History Ireland editor Tommy Graham in discussion with Paddy Cullivan, Sylvie Kleinman, Tim Murtagh and Fergus Whelan.


The Hedge School series of podcasts is produced by History Ireland and the Wordwell Group. 

For more information or to subscribe, visit historyireland.com