Documentary on Newstalk

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 twenties abroad, living for long stretches in Vietnam and the Netherlands. It was only after all this that Patrick and his partner Jan decided to try for a different type of existence. One as far away from the crowded city life they had always known as you could imagine. And so they moved to a tiny cottage outside Westport in Co. Mayo, determined to live an isolated and monkish lifestyle.

Then, in 2020, that all changed.

With COVID-19 spreading uncertainty into our lives and lockdowns confining us, Patrick began sharing videos of his own way of passing the days – sat outside in his garden, playing cello, the stunning landscape of the locality his background. What started as something to send to his friends quickly caught fire through Twitter and Instagram and within months was being viewed regularly by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

This documentary tells Patrick’s story through his own words as well as those of his family and friends, including producer Hugh Hick, who has known Patrick since they were teenagers.

But it’s not just Patrick’s story – it’s the story of a unique place in Ireland that continues to capture the hearts and minds of so many. And it’s the story of all of us, and why, at that most uniquely dark and incomprehensible of moments, something about a man playing cello to us through our screens compelled us and gave us something to latch onto.

‘Strings’ was made with the support of Comisúin na Meán with the television licence fee.

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, others are newly arrived International Protection Applicants. They all speak different languages, but music is their universal language.

‘Citadel: Building Bridges Through Music’ is a documentary that explores the different stories of band members, how they came to be refugees in Ireland and the difficulties they face here. The founders of the band; Roos and Norbert speak about how they started the band and a not for profit organisation, International Community Dynamics.

In June 2023, International Community Dynamics hosted ‘The Festival of Belonging’ in the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork. With poetry, spoken word, a conversation cafe, an art exhibition by refugee and Traveller artists and a conference on belonging at UCC, it was a busy weekend. The highlight of the weekend was a performance by Citadel.

The documentary follows the band in the buildup to their performance, taking in rehearsals and nerves before they take to the stage on the night.

Citadel raises awareness and spreads joy, peace and understanding by sharing their music with each other and with the Irish community and this is reflected in the programme.

Produced by Alan Meaney.

Funded by Coimisiún na Mean with the television licence fee.

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 Burma and Asia, for his denouncing of Colonial Christian Missionaries and campaigning for the rights of Buddhists, while skirting colonial sedition and treason laws.              

Shedding light on the enigmatic life of a man who defied norms, embraced Buddhism, and faced down the British Empire, his remarkable odyssey is chronicled from his humble beginnings in Dublin to his tumultuous years as a sailor and hobo in the United States before his eventual arrival in Rangoon, Burma, circa 1880.  

With 25 years of his life prior to his arrival in Burma shrouded in mystery, Carroll's transformation into U Dhammaloka marked a turning point in the anti-colonial resistance in Burma and the Southeast Asia region. 

At the heart of this true tale lies U Dhammaloka's surely inevitable trial for sedition in 1911. The trial is a pivotal moment in Colonial Burma's history which drew international attention. Resonating with the masses, his defiance of colonialism garnered support from thousands, including multiethnic minorities across Burma and Southeast Asia, while at the trial, he is supported by Gandhi's esteemed associate Dr Pranjivan Metha.  

Through interviews with those at the forefront of resurrecting Carroll's odyssey; dramatic reenactments, and factual storytelling, this programme reasserts U Dhammaloka's rightful place within Irish history and reveals the true reasons why this remarkable tale became almost lost to the sands of time.  

The documentary is produced, edited, and presented by multimedia journalist and documentary maker Noel Sweeney. Funded by Coimisiún na Mean with the television licence fee.

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 emphasis on a kinder, gentler festival setting. 

‘Another Love Story’ documentary delves into the running of ALS festival and the music and attractions available.

Founding members Peter O’ Brien, Emmet Condon, and Sam Bishop discuss some of the aspects of organising and hosting the festival. Live features from ALS 2023 include on-site chats with musicians, crew, and attendees, as well as musical performances showcasing the wide variety of genres and acts on offer to festival-goers. Crew and guests talk about distinctive features of ALS, including child and dog-friendly facilities, and sustainability efforts such as the Flushing Meadows compost toilets. 

The programme features performances and interviews with musicians Villagers’ Conor O’ Brien, Brigid Mae Power, JFDR’s Jófríður Ákadóttir, DJ Hewan Mulugeta, and Negro Impacto’s Chi Chi and StrangeLove.

Other interviews include Psycare Ireland, Siobhan Kane of Young Hearts Run Free, and crew members Ali Morris, Octavian Fitzherbert, and Sarah Howlin. 

Another Love Story was produced by Alan Meaney and Amanda Gunning. Narration by Amanda Gunning.  The programme was funded by the Coimisiún na Meán with the television licence fee.

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 Ireland. Dr. Melanie Brown tells us what she learnt from her involvement with the Jewish Oral History Project and the Inter-Faith Council - and what it means to her to be Irish and Jewish. 

Rabbi Zalman Lent and Rifky Lent at Deli 613 - the first kosher deli in Dublin in fifty years - share Jewish food and explain why they set up and how they’ve been received by the community. And then we head to Cork to meet klezmer composer Ruti Lachs, of the Cork Jewish Community and we’ll get her take on being one of the ‘new Irish’ Jews who’ve made Ireland their home. 

‘Jews have been here since the time of the Normans. Jews are not strangers here, but they remain to be othered in a lot of ways. And that, to me, is very interesting. Why, after a thousand years,  why is there still this othering?’ - Dr. Melanie Brown. 

Produced by Bairbre Flood and funded by Coimisiun na Mean under the Sound and Vision Scheme. 

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 parents of the benefits of education, of changing attitudes towards contraception and female genital mutilation and of establishing a democracy in the face of resistance from the all-powerful clans.

All this, along with the constant threat of suicide bomb attacks from the Islamist group Al-Shabaab. In Somalia, everything is complicated.

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 some of the worst slums in Europe, with families crammed into overcrowded and unsanitary tenements. Disturbed by the conditions he saw in The Liberties, where his brewery was based, Guinness invested a considerable amount of his fortune into building housing and communities in the area.

Sarah Stacey’s family connection to the Iveagh Trust goes back four generations. With the help of social historians, staff members and residents, including her own relatives, she looks at how one man’s generosity transformed the lives of thousands of Dublin families, and why the Iveagh Trust’s ongoing work is just as important in today’s housing crisis as it was over a century ago.

Contributors include Tracey Bardon, engagement co-ordinator at 14 Henrietta Street (the Tenement Museum), historians Cathy Scuffil and Alan Byrne, Rory Guinness, chairman of the Iveagh Trust and great-great-grandson of Edward Cecil Guinness, former Iveagh Trust community officer Kelley Bermingham, and past and present residents Paul Tester, Pat Stacey and Tina Brennan.

“The Iveagh Trust: How Ireland’s Richest Man Housed Dublin’s Poor” was produced and presented by Sarah Stacey, with additional production by Daniel Cahill and music composed by Emily Worrall. Special thanks to the Iveagh Trust and Dublin City Library and Archive. Funded by Coimisiún na Meán with the Television Licence Fee.