The Prodcast

EP 20: The road from Drum to Dalkey

David and Simon talk to Lorraine Hall about her experience of growing up as a border Protestant and how she combines respecting the tradition in which she was brought up with life in South Dublin.

EP 19: Mystic Prods – transcending politics in search of identity

Simon and David explore how Irish Protestants came to bequeath the Gothic novel to the world, while going in search of a deep Irish identity with roots in a magical past. They ask whether the same skill for bypassing politics to find shared...

EP 19: Mystic Prods – transcending politics in search of identity

Simon and David explore how Irish Protestants came to bequeath the Gothic novel to the world, while going in search of a deep Irish identity with roots in a magical past. They ask whether the same skill for bypassing politics to find shared...

EP 18: Music of the Prods 1 – the Churchy stuff

David and Simon talk about the Anglican choral tradition and the wider Protestant love of hymn singing – scones for the ears you might say.

EP 17: Walking into the Past

David and Simon consider the events on the Garvaghy Road and what they mean for relationships across the island.

EP 16: A Prodcast First – David and Simon meet Neale Richmond

Neale Richmond is the most senior Protestant in the Irish Government. We talk to him about what motivates him, and what his Protestant identity means to him. We also lay to rest the rumour that he is in his nineties.

EP 15: Ireland and Silence

Simon and David ask why the Irish, famed for their gift as talkers, sometimes make a fetish of silence.

EP 14: Sex, I'm Afraid

Who was really having sex in repressive 1980s Ireland? Plus the Irish government’s failed effort to woo Ulster Unionists with condoms and divorce, and David audibly blushes amid Simon’s insinuating banter.

EP 13: The Food of the Prods

David and Simon explore the identity-defining questions of scones, jam and tray bakes… and David makes a confession.

EP 12: The Insecurity of the Colonised Mind

With a nod to our favourite bass player, Conor “Deego” Deegan, we look at whether continued lamenting of the treatment of Ireland by the English might be a sign of insecurity rather than confidence. With references to the World Cup, and an out-of-date...

EP 11: Burke vs Farage

EP 10: Talk, Culture... Scones

EP 9: Poor Prods and Wandering Pronouns

The stereotypes about Irish Prods are durable, but David and Simon discuss some of the ways in which they can and should be challenged.

EP 8: You Prodded us Back

Southern Ireland, partition, prod pride and other listener notes & queries

EP 7: The Long Tail of the Phoenix

David and Simon explore why Southern Prods still seem so reluctant to talk about their identity in public.

EP 6: A Field Guide for Prod Spotters

A look at more recent history and varieties of Irish Protestant experience and outlook.

EP 5: What Have the Prods Ever Done for Us?

In which we canter through the first few centuries of Irish Protestant history and some of their legacies.

EP 4: We Do God

What did being Protestant do to our thinking about politics and the society around us in the 1980s and 1990s?

EP 3: Growing up as Prods in the 1980s

David grew up in the South, Simon in both the North and the South. What was it like being Protestant in 1980s Ireland. Why might it matter now?

EP 2: Here's to Us and Who's Like Us

Simon and David get into the details, including Simon explaining his beef with Deego.