What Were We Like

Ranking history

About the show

Latest episodes

• The Fearsome Ruler of Catholic Ireland: John Charles McQuaid (Part 1)

  June 1, 2026 · 45 min

  The powerful and fearsome John Charles McQuaid was the archbishop of Dublin from 1940 to the early 1970s, and was described as the ruler of Catholic Ireland. He was obsessed with protestants, communists and "moral purity", and ran a huge…

• By Elections That Shaped Ireland (Part 2)

  May 23, 2026 · 36 min

  More giants of Irish politics feature in this episode. Enda Kenny – was he lucky, was he devoid of strong convictions, was he Fine Gael's most successful Taoiseach? Probably all three. Prickly Des O’Malley won his famous uncle’s seat in a…

• The By-Elections That Shaped Ireland (Part 1)

  May 18, 2026 · 37 min

  With by-elections in the air, Diarmaid and Catriona look back at some of the most significant ones in Irish history. Part one features big beasts Sean Lemass and Sean MacBride, as well as Ireland's most handsome communist. Lemass succeeded…

• The History of The Tricolour (Part 3)

  May 11, 2026 · 49 min

  This episode charts the Tricolour's 20th Century evolution: its formal adoption in 1937; getting the Brits to return the Tricolour that flew over the GPO in 1916; all the way up to Italia '90. The gruesome digging up of Roger Casement's…

• The History of The Tricolour (Part 2)

  May 4, 2026 · 34 min

  Patrick Pearse’s dramatic ‘The fools, the fools’ speech at Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa’s funeral was a key moment in the story of Ireland’s flag. Pearse made the oration alongside a Tricolour draped across the veteran Fenian’s coffin. The…

• The History of The Tricolour (Part 1)

  April 27, 2026 · 29 min

  Who owns The Tricolour? Over the last year it has appeared on polls and lampposts all over Ireland – put there by anti-immigration campaigners, causing fights and debates all over the country. This happened in Catriona’s neighbourhood, and…

• A President Comes to Town - Reagan in Ireland

  April 20, 2026 · 52 min

  June 1984, and Ronald Reagan, the controversial, transformative Republican President of the United States visits Ireland. Opposition is widespread, and an unexpected alliance of lefties and priests man the barricades, with Reagan’s foreign…

• Fianna Fáil: "The Devil" Takes Power (Part 3)

  April 13, 2026 · 37 min

  General election campaigns in the early years of the State were utterly vicious, with fresh cow dung, sticks, and nasty insults being hurled about as Fianna Fáil attempted to wrest power from the pro-Treaty Cumann na nGaedheal. Despite the…