Róisín Meets...

Paul Carrack is one of pop’s best kept secrets. Not everyone knows that the Sheffield-born musician’s incredible 40-year career has included working with legendary artists including Elton John, Eric Clapton, Squeeze, Roxy Music, the Eagles, Diana Ross, The Smiths and Nick Lowe. He came into studio, armed with his guitar, to chat to Róisín Ingle ahead of his show at The Olympia in Dublin on October 18th. He spoke about the different artists he has worked with, the bands he has been in and why he’s glad he was never mega-famous, but he wouldn’t have minded being filthy rich at the same time.

Aonghus McAnally has been with RTÉ for decades from Anything Goes on Saturday morning when he had this mad big hair and shoes that didn’t match, to series producer of Joe Duffy's Liveline. Here he talks to Róisín Ingle about his career, living with his Dad actor Ray McNally and he gives us his verdict on that Secret RTE producer on Twitter everyone is talking about. He also talked about his friendship with singer Christie Hennessy ahead of his tour Celebrating Christy Hennessy - The Platinum Collection, which begins next Friday 6th October in Cork.

The Commitments, Red Water and now Acceptable Risk star Angeline Ball speaks to Róisín Ingle about poetry, growing up in Cabra on Dublin’s north side, being Imelda Quirke, and much more.

In 1944 Edith Eger was a 16-year-old Jewish girl living a normal life. That all changed when she and her family were sent to a concentration camp. She tells Róisín Ingle about Auschwitz, the death march, losing her parents in the Holocaust and about finding the joy in life once again.

Ciara King and her radio husband Chris Greene host the 2FM night time show, Chris and Ciara every Sunday to Thursday starting at 10 pm. Her readings of her “teenage diary” are often a highlight and after years of sharing the inner thoughts of her fictional teenage self, Ciara has published them in a book, Ciara's Diary: Sense and Shiftability. She tells Róisín Ingle all about it and reads an extract in which she wears the face off Bill Clinton.

"On 14 April 1984 a woman’s identity was shattered to pieces. 33 years later we are still trying to piece it back together." More than thirty years ago two tragedies set off a chain of events leading to the Kerry babies case, gripping national attention and putting the spotlight on the place of women in Irish society, sexual mores and the conduct of An Garda Síochána. Longford theatre-maker Luke Casserly is the director of a show which will be part of the Dublin Fringe festival this month called Efficacy 84. It aims to ask questions about the limitations of art and how we can, as a society, begin to engage with an event, and an Ireland, that seems so far away from us today, in the context of the Kerry babies story. Additional reading: www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/the-case-of-the-kerry-babies-1.1759242 www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/state-papers-garda%C3%AD-grossly-negligent-in-kerry-babies-inquiry-1.2479669 www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/harrowing-treatment-of-joanne-hayes-at-kerry-babies-tr

In the final installment of Music Month 2017, Róisín Ingle talks to Co. Clare singer Síomha Brock. Her jazzy, blues vocals and guitar speak to influences from her time in Nashville, Memphis and Austin. In this podcast she plays three of her songs live in studio: Why Did We Fall In Love?, Fly and July Red Sky.

On the latest Music Month podcast, Róisín Ingle meets Sallay Matu Garnett, or Loah as she goes by on stage. Loah released her EP This Heart earlier this year and performs three songs from it in the episode. A pharmacist by trade too, she has been writing music for years and has a co-writing credit on her ex-boyfriend Hozier's song Someone New.

Farah El Neihum, otherwise known as ‘Farah Elle’, is a singer and pianist with an alternative pop sound influenced by everything from hiphop to R&B, to ska, with Arabian echoes from her Libyan background. She chats to Róisín about music, growing up Muslim in Ireland and her "rock 'n' roll ninja" mum Dr. Fatima Hamroush who, as minister for health, tried to help rebuild Libya after the Gaddafi regime was overthrown. In this podcast you will hear Farah Elle perform four songs: Rajeen, Sunblock, Holiday and Laundry.

Dublin roots five-piece I Draw Slow have been on tour in the U.S. 15 times in the last four years and earlier this year were signed to Compass Records on Nashville's iconic Music Row, through which they released their fourth album Turn Your Face to the Sun last May. Siblings Louise and Dave Holden are the band's singers and they dropped by The Irish Times studio the day after their album launch at Whelan’s in Dublin to perform as part of the annual Róisín Meets Music Month. In this podcast you will hear them perform three songs off the new album: Carolina, Honeymoon and Garage Flowers.

We dip into the archive again this week to present one of our favourite Róisín Meets interviews. When he was a young boy, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche was forced to flee Tibet along with his family. Tied to his horse so he wouldn’t fall off it when he slept, he eventually made it to India. In 2015, 60 years later, Róisín Ingle spoke to Rinpoche while he was on one of his regular visits to Ireland teaching Buddhism and meditation.

This week we are dipping back into the archive and presenting a couple of our favourite Roísín Meets interviews. This time it's our 2015 interview with the actor Richard E Grant. It was one of the more unusual Róisín Meets, during which the Withnail and I star called Róisín Oprah, let her smell him and flipped the interview tables on Róisín by asking her some personal questions about her own life.

For the next three weeks we're dipping back into the archive and presenting a couple of our favourite Roísín Meets interviews. This week it's our 2015 interview with the one and only Gay Byrne. The veteran broadcaster talked about his support for same-sex marriage and his Meaning of Life interview with Stephen Fry.

Actor and singer talks to the Róisín Meets podcast about starring in Orphan Black, new music and directing her first film.

Terry Waite spent four years in Lebanon as a hostage of the Hizbullah. Now he is an author, lecturer and humanitarian. He talks to Roísín Ingle about his extraordinary life.

Ahead of Dublin Pride this weekend, Róisín Ingle meets Fabian McGrath and Philip Kennedy from the Dublin Gay Men's Chorus to chat about singing, coming out, and what it means to have a gay Taoiseach.

Today is Father’s Day and for many families it is a happy occasion, but for those who have lost a child, it can be a very difficult day. Ken Walsh’s third child Caoimhe was stillborn after he and his wife Linda were told during the pregnancy that their daughter had Edward's syndrome, a life-limiting condition. After the birth, the family were helped through their trauma by the charity Feileacáin, who say it’s important that men are encouraged to speak about their feelings about the loss of a child. Róisín Ingle spoke to Ken about losing Caoimhe, how Feileacáin helped them and why it’s important for bereaved fathers to know that they don't always have stay strong. http://www.feileacain.ie/

Supporters of equality in this country will have been saddened to learn of the death of Ann Louise Gilligan. In this June 2015 interview Ann Louise and her wife Katherine Zappone, then a senator, talked to Róisín Ingle about marriage equality, education, spirituality and the importance of having fun as you get older.

In 1946, at the age of 18, Veronica Dunne sold her pony and moved from her family home in Dublin to Rome to learn how to sing opera. There, she would sing alongside such talents as Maria Callas. In 1961, she left her singing career behind and began teaching. In the decades since, she has been responsible for fostering the talents of countless young Irish singers. Now, with her 90th birthday approaching this August, Veronica is still teaching every day at Royal Irish Academy of Music and will be honoured by them at The Great Music in Irish Houses festival which runs from the 13th to the 18th of June. Ahead of that, Veronica met Róisín Ingle and shared some stories from her extraordinary life.

Louth musician David Keenan went viral a few years ago when a taxi driver in Dundalk posted a video of him singing his song El Paso to YouTube. The 23-year-old counts Yeats, Behan and Wilde among his influences and you can hear it in his lyrics. Keenan doesn't sound like anyone else, and that's a good thing. He took time out from working on his debut album to stop by for a chat with Róisín Ingle and he also performed three of his songs - including a brand new one.