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New episodes released each Monday. Subscribe for updates. Please support as a donor or monthly patron.
Next live event is: Electric Picnic festival. (Details to follow) The Love and Courage podcast features soulful audio interviews with inspirational people who have important insights and wisdom for our world today. Guests are typically people passionate about social justice, and who have demonstrated huge courage and conviction in their lives. People like Christy Moore, Sister Stan, Liam O'Maonlaí, Dil Wickremasinghe, Sunny Jacobs, Frances Black, and many more. The podcast reached no. 1 in the iTunes charts after its release and has remained hugely popular in Ireland and internationally. |
Join the Love and Courage community
This is independent community supported media. Once off and monthly patron support is hugely appreciated. Donate here. This helps helps pay for production, post-production, transcribing, hosting, equipment upgrades, publicity, venue rental, and support for Ruairí's ongoing community, campaign and youth mentoring work.
Donate here
Use iFundraise or PayPal (to: support@loveandcourage.org) or scroll to the bottom of this page for secure payment form. 
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Subscribe, download, rate and review via iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, YouTube and please spread the word. If you are new to podcasts and have an iPhone, simply use the podcast app on your phone. On Android phones, using the Google Play App download an podcast app such as Podcast Republic and search for 'Love and Courage' and then click subscribe. Download each episode individually, subscribe for updates and sign-up for email announcements about new guests and episodes.
About the host: Ruairí McKiernan is a multi award winning Irish social innovator, community campaigner, consultant, writer and public speaker. He is the founder of the pioneering SpunOut youth organisation, and helped set-up the Uplift and the A Lust For Life non-profits. In 2012 the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins appointed Ruairí to the Council of State, a constitutional advisory body. Ruairí is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Fulbright fellowship, and he contributes regularly to the media on youth, health, community and social justice issues. Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | Donate 
Free communications, public speaking, coaching
To mark the launch of the Love and Courage podcast Ruairí is offering a free communications or campaign consultancy or general coaching/mentoring session and a free place on his upcoming public speaking workshop. Sign-up for email updates to find out more. 
Love and Courage donors and patrons - thank you!
A massive heartfelt thanks to new monthly patrons Simon Ward, Darragh Doyle, Ronan Branigan, Darren Ryan, Sophia Duffy, Davy Ward, Eamon Stack, Ann Keenaghan, Megan Brown, Seán McKiernan, Stephen Kelleher, and Niall Doherty. Also, sincere thanks to Allyson Lambert, Sinead Keaveney, John Cantwell, Lisa Patten, Sarah Winston, Karen Ward, Darragh Keenaghan, Dolores Whelan, John Lillis, Lynn Boylan, Jim McKiernan, Ruth McKenna, and the two kind anonymous donors. You can chip in here. |
No.1 #podcast in Ireland this morn on #iTunes ! Thx to all who have subscribed, rated, reviewed & promoted #LoveandCourage □#PodernFamily pic.twitter.com/gF9Vn2Rd78
— Love&Courage Podcast (@LoveandCourage) May 17, 2017
Listen to the podcasts
You can listen to the podcasts through the SoundCloud links below but I'd really appreciate if you could use your phone App (especially iPhone/iTunes users) to subscribe, download, review, rate and share the podcast as this really helps it get it seen and heard. New podcasts will be released weekly in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to email list for updates.
Short introduction episode
Senator Lynn Ruane and Joe Caslin
Recorded at the Body&Soul music and arts festival in front of a live audience.
Senator Lynn Ruane is from Tallaght in Dublin, Lynn is a senator and campaigner for drug reform and other social justice issues, as well as being a powerful voice for many of those unrepresented in our political system. An early school leaver and single mother of two, she got away from a life of drugs and went on to set up addiction programmes before becoming a mature student, a student union leader, and more recently, entering the world of politics as an independent senator. Now in her early 30s Lynne is a passionate force for change.
Joe Caslin is also in his early 30s, Roscommon born Joe Caslin is a street artist and school teacher who lives in Tullamore. He made international news with the Claddagh Embrace, a giant street art work featuring two men embracing, which he launched during Ireland’s 2015 marriage equality referendum. Joe is a tireless educator who goes above and beyond for his students. The loss of several of his students to suicide motivated him to create works for a project he called Our Nations Sons. His latest project, The Volunteers, uses large scale provocative street art to draw attention to drug addiction, mental health and the issues affecting Asylum Seekers in the Direct Provision system.
Senator Lynn Ruane is from Tallaght in Dublin, Lynn is a senator and campaigner for drug reform and other social justice issues, as well as being a powerful voice for many of those unrepresented in our political system. An early school leaver and single mother of two, she got away from a life of drugs and went on to set up addiction programmes before becoming a mature student, a student union leader, and more recently, entering the world of politics as an independent senator. Now in her early 30s Lynne is a passionate force for change.
Joe Caslin is also in his early 30s, Roscommon born Joe Caslin is a street artist and school teacher who lives in Tullamore. He made international news with the Claddagh Embrace, a giant street art work featuring two men embracing, which he launched during Ireland’s 2015 marriage equality referendum. Joe is a tireless educator who goes above and beyond for his students. The loss of several of his students to suicide motivated him to create works for a project he called Our Nations Sons. His latest project, The Volunteers, uses large scale provocative street art to draw attention to drug addiction, mental health and the issues affecting Asylum Seekers in the Direct Provision system.
Hyeonseo Lee
Hyeonseo Lee was born in 1980 in North Korea, a country she thought was the best on the planet’ until she witnessed great suffering and starvation. At the age of 17, she left her family behind and escaped alone to China.
Hiding her identity for ten years, her life in China was far from easy and she eventually decided to flee for South Korea. There she faced further challenges when the authorities initially didn’t believe she was North Korean. Some time later she returned to China where she met her family and travelled to Laos in order to bring them to join her in South Korea.
However the family were caught and imprisoned in Laos until an Australian backpacker helped pay for their release. Hyeonseo is the author of an acclaimed book, the Girl with Seven Names, and her TED talk has reached well over 10 million people. While still struggling to adapt to her new freedoms, she travels extensively sharing her story and telling the world about what is happening in North Korea.
Click here for Soundcloud link or download from your podcast App.
Hiding her identity for ten years, her life in China was far from easy and she eventually decided to flee for South Korea. There she faced further challenges when the authorities initially didn’t believe she was North Korean. Some time later she returned to China where she met her family and travelled to Laos in order to bring them to join her in South Korea.
However the family were caught and imprisoned in Laos until an Australian backpacker helped pay for their release. Hyeonseo is the author of an acclaimed book, the Girl with Seven Names, and her TED talk has reached well over 10 million people. While still struggling to adapt to her new freedoms, she travels extensively sharing her story and telling the world about what is happening in North Korea.
Click here for Soundcloud link or download from your podcast App.
Alastair McIntosh
Alastair McIntosh is a well-known Scottish author, Quaker, environmental activist and visiting professor at the University of Glasgow. Born and raised on the isle of Lewis of the west coast of Scotland, the birth place of Donald Trump’s mother, Alastair is a passionate voice for change on land reform, cultural renewal, climate change and global peace and justice.
Audio and transcript here.
Audio and transcript here.
Dil Wickremasinghe
Dil Wickremasinghe is a broadcaster, comedian, journalist and social entrepreneur who grew up in Italy and Sri Lanka before moving to Ireland 16 years ago. Dil’s incredible journey has involved struggles with her Jehovah’s Witness parents who disowned her in her youth because of her sexuality. Dil is a courageous survivor of sexual abuse and has overcome depression and thoughts of suicide to transform her life in amazing ways. She has been a flight attendant, a dish washer, a recruitment consultant and lots more.
Dil arrived in Ireland in June 2000 with little savings and no plan of what she was going to do. Since then she has become a national figure championing social inclusion, love, and justice in a world that so badly needs it. Part of this work is her award winning Global Village national radio show on Newstalk.
As if all that wasn’t enough Dil is also the co-founder of the Insight Matters counselling centre which reaches 100s of people on a weekly basis. Click here for transcript and audio.
Dil arrived in Ireland in June 2000 with little savings and no plan of what she was going to do. Since then she has become a national figure championing social inclusion, love, and justice in a world that so badly needs it. Part of this work is her award winning Global Village national radio show on Newstalk.
As if all that wasn’t enough Dil is also the co-founder of the Insight Matters counselling centre which reaches 100s of people on a weekly basis. Click here for transcript and audio.
John Lillis
John Lillis is a DJ, producer and teacher, based in the West of Ireland. He is one third of the Rusangano Family, a high powered hip hop act who in 2017 won the Choice Music Prize, Ireland’s biggest music award. Growing up in rural County Clare, John immersed himself in music culture - collecting records and entering radio competitions daily. His approach has always been a D.I.Y one and he has been a major part of growing the hip hop movement in Ireland. A passion for community music and event management led him into the field of youth work, an area that has deeply inspired his creative work and thinking. When not touring the world, supporting Snoop Dogg or hanging out with Ed Sheeran, John is back in his beloved Clare helping empower the next generation of musicians.
Click here for full transcript and audio.
Click here for full transcript and audio.
Frances Black
Frances Black is a well known Irish singer, campaigner, politician, addiction counsellor, and social entrepreneur. She achieved fame early in her life as part of Irish folk super group Arcady and then later with her family in the band the Black Family. She featured on the renowned Woman’s Heart album which became the biggest selling Irish album of all time. Frances has recorded a total of 10 solo albums to date and has toured the world including the U.S, New Zealand and Iraq. Frances battled with alcohol dependency in her twenties and went on to become an addiction counsellor before setting up the Rise Foundation in 2009 to support families affected by various forms of addiction. In 2016 Frances surprised many people when she entered the world of politics and was elected as independent Senator. Full transcript here.
Ray McGovern
77 year old Irish American New Yorker Ray McGovern is a veteran CIA officer turned peace activist. He was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990, including during the administrations of John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George Bush senior. Ray’s duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the President’s Daily Brief. He received the Intelligence Commendation Medal on his retirement, returning it in 2006 in protest at U.S involvement in torture.
In 2011, during a speech at George Washington University by Hillary Clinton, McGovern, stood silently with his back turned during her remarks. This led to him being arrested and badly beaten while the secretary of state continued her speech about the need for freedom of expression in Egypt and Iran.
Ray was later added to the State Department's Diplomatic Security list of potential threats. In 2013, McGovern, along with three former winners, gave the Sam Adams Award for integrity in intelligence to Edward Snowden. Full transcript here.
In 2011, during a speech at George Washington University by Hillary Clinton, McGovern, stood silently with his back turned during her remarks. This led to him being arrested and badly beaten while the secretary of state continued her speech about the need for freedom of expression in Egypt and Iran.
Ray was later added to the State Department's Diplomatic Security list of potential threats. In 2013, McGovern, along with three former winners, gave the Sam Adams Award for integrity in intelligence to Edward Snowden. Full transcript here.
Sr. Stan
Sr. Stan is one of Ireland’s most well known and respected social visionaries. She is a founder of four leading Irish organisations - Focus Ireland, the Sanctuary, the Immigrant Council of Ireland and Young Social Innovators. Now in her mid seventies, she has been a tireless voice for justice for over fifty years and has been a huge champion for the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. A former member of the Council of State, a keynote speaker, and an author of numerous books, Sr. Stan remains a vocal voice for justice.. In 2014 she was voted Ireland's greatest woman in a major Irish national newspaper poll. Interview transcript.
Chuck Collins
Chuck Collins is one of America's leading economic equality campaigners. He grew up in Detroit and went to school alongside some of the elite the United States including former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Chuck could perhaps be known as the man who gave away all his money after he chose to give away a massive inheritance in his twenties.
Chuck is a powerful voice for justice, he is a Senior Scholar at the Institute of Policy Studies, he's a co-founder of several organisations and projects, an author of several books including his new autobiography:
Born on third base. Part of Chuck’s work involves works with millionaires and billionaires to encourage them to share their wealth and he co-wrote a book on this topic alongside Bill Gates' father, William H Gates. I interviewed Chuck at his home Boston in the run up to the 2016 US Presidential election. (Interview transcription here).
Chuck is a powerful voice for justice, he is a Senior Scholar at the Institute of Policy Studies, he's a co-founder of several organisations and projects, an author of several books including his new autobiography:
Born on third base. Part of Chuck’s work involves works with millionaires and billionaires to encourage them to share their wealth and he co-wrote a book on this topic alongside Bill Gates' father, William H Gates. I interviewed Chuck at his home Boston in the run up to the 2016 US Presidential election. (Interview transcription here).
Sunny Jacobs
Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs spent 17 years in prison, including 5 in solitary confinement, for a crime she didn’t commit. Sentenced to death at the age of 28 for the murder of two police officers in Florida. When she was imprisoned, her two young children were cast into the foster care system.
Nearly 17 years after her arrest, Sunny’s conviction was overturned on appeal. Her story, along with those of five other wrongfully convicted death row inmates, became The Exonerated, a play put on by the nonprofit theater, The Culture Project.
Sunny is the author of Stolen Time: One Woman’s Inspiring Story as an Innocent Condemned to Death. www.sunnyandpeter.com
About the interview: I have been friends with Sunny for several years now and was honoured to be interview her at a Cruinnu Na Casca public event in Newman church Dublin on Easter Monday 2017 as part of a series of events on the theme of freedom organised by Kathy Scott and the team at the Trailblazery. (Interview transcription here).
Nearly 17 years after her arrest, Sunny’s conviction was overturned on appeal. Her story, along with those of five other wrongfully convicted death row inmates, became The Exonerated, a play put on by the nonprofit theater, The Culture Project.
Sunny is the author of Stolen Time: One Woman’s Inspiring Story as an Innocent Condemned to Death. www.sunnyandpeter.com
About the interview: I have been friends with Sunny for several years now and was honoured to be interview her at a Cruinnu Na Casca public event in Newman church Dublin on Easter Monday 2017 as part of a series of events on the theme of freedom organised by Kathy Scott and the team at the Trailblazery. (Interview transcription here).
Professor Ivor Browne
Ivor Browne is an 88 year old retired Irish psychiatrist, author, former Chief Psychiatrist, jazz musician and Professor emeritus of psychiatry at University College Dublin. Educated in Harvard, he is known for his opposition to traditional psychiatry, and his scepticism about psychiatric drugs. Browne has experimented with LSD as part of therapeutic process.
Well known friends and supporters include Colm Tóibín, Sebastian Barry, Mary Coughlan. In 1993 he had a famous run in with the Catholic Church when he spoke out in support of Phyllis Hamilton and her children after the Catholic Church denied that her two children were fathered by Fr. Michael Cleary. Ivor’s life is the subject of the 2017 documentary film ‘Meetings with Ivor’ directed by Alan Gilsenan and produced by Tómas Hardiman.
Well known friends and supporters include Colm Tóibín, Sebastian Barry, Mary Coughlan. In 1993 he had a famous run in with the Catholic Church when he spoke out in support of Phyllis Hamilton and her children after the Catholic Church denied that her two children were fathered by Fr. Michael Cleary. Ivor’s life is the subject of the 2017 documentary film ‘Meetings with Ivor’ directed by Alan Gilsenan and produced by Tómas Hardiman.
More episodes being released weekly. Subscribe to for updates via your podcast App and sign-up for email updates for special announcements. All help spreading the word hugely appreciated.
Roll of honour
A massive heartfelt thanks to new monthly patrons Simon Ward, Darragh Doyle, Ronan Branigan, Darren Ryan, Sophia Duffy, Davy Ward, Eamon Stack, Ann Keenaghan, Megan Brown, Seán McKiernan, Stephen Kelleher, and Niall Doherty. Also, sincere thanks to Allyson Lambert, Sinead Keaveney, John Cantwell, Lisa Patten, Sarah Winston, Karen Ward, Darragh Keenaghan, Dolores Whelan, John Lillis, Lynn Boylan, Jim McKiernan, Ruth McKenna, and the two kind anonymous donors. You can chip in here.
Thanks also to all the interviewees and to patrons and supporters who have helped make the magic happen including: Dara Twamley (sound engineering), Barry Dempsey (production support), Dave Curran (Inspireland), Michael Conlon (Michael Meets), Richard Lawson, Susie Q, Gary Dunne and so many others.
Your name and photo listed here? You can also be an anonymous supporter
Chip in, spread the love and support the podcast so it can reach more people and you can get your name listed on this page and receive special shout-outs and mentions online. All donations and contributions hugely appreciated. This helps helps pay for production, post-production, hosting, equipment upgrades, publicity, venue rental, and support for Ruairí's ongoing community, campaign and youth mentoring work.
Donate here
Use iFundraise or PayPal (to: support@loveandcourage.org) or scroll to the bottom of this page for secure payment form.
A massive heartfelt thanks to new monthly patrons Simon Ward, Darragh Doyle, Ronan Branigan, Darren Ryan, Sophia Duffy, Davy Ward, Eamon Stack, Ann Keenaghan, Megan Brown, Seán McKiernan, Stephen Kelleher, and Niall Doherty. Also, sincere thanks to Allyson Lambert, Sinead Keaveney, John Cantwell, Lisa Patten, Sarah Winston, Karen Ward, Darragh Keenaghan, Dolores Whelan, John Lillis, Lynn Boylan, Jim McKiernan, Ruth McKenna, and the two kind anonymous donors. You can chip in here.
Thanks also to all the interviewees and to patrons and supporters who have helped make the magic happen including: Dara Twamley (sound engineering), Barry Dempsey (production support), Dave Curran (Inspireland), Michael Conlon (Michael Meets), Richard Lawson, Susie Q, Gary Dunne and so many others.
Your name and photo listed here? You can also be an anonymous supporter
Chip in, spread the love and support the podcast so it can reach more people and you can get your name listed on this page and receive special shout-outs and mentions online. All donations and contributions hugely appreciated. This helps helps pay for production, post-production, hosting, equipment upgrades, publicity, venue rental, and support for Ruairí's ongoing community, campaign and youth mentoring work.
- Once off supporters of €10 or over get names on the website and a badge. (Anonymous support is also possible).
- Once off supporters of €50 or more (or at least €5 per month) will get a Love and Courage t-shirt and badge, discounts on workshops and events, your photo and special credits online and on the podcast.
- Monthly patrons of €20 per month or more will get the above as well as a mention on the podcast credits (if you want).
- Patrons of €40 per month or more will get all of the above as well as quarterly phone call updates and invitations to special community gatherings.
- Bigger sponsorship opportunities may also be available.
Donate here
Use iFundraise or PayPal (to: support@loveandcourage.org) or scroll to the bottom of this page for secure payment form.
