This is a special episode, and one that was a long time in the making. Síomha Brock and I sat down by the fireside and recoded this conversation while a storm raged outside. During this episode we talk through the process of the creation of Síomha's maiden album 'Infinite Space'. The chat navigates through the unique process in which the album was made, a discussion on the merits of community funded projects, lowering the environmental impact of creation, Síomha's time in Palestine, and her upcoming plans in the post release phase of the album. 

Thank you very much to Síomha for coming on the show, and all the patrons of the show who have kept the Rebel Matters Podcast on the road through thick and thin. If you would like to back the show and help us to keep creating content like this episode you can visit our Patreon page to see teh various tiers of support. 

www.patreon.com/rebelmatters 

This weeks episode is a solo run discussing strategies and routines to handle periods of high workload. I discuss the idea of checking in with ones-self when the going gets tough, actions that create maximal results in relation to the effort it takes to carry out the actions, the transience of stressful periods, and the importance of reminding ourselves that our self worth is more valuable than our work. 

We are back on the road! This is the first episode in a while after my 3 month spell living and working in the Aida refugee camp on @aclaipalestine Today’s guest on the show is Echlas Al-Azza, a Palestinian refugee with muscular atrophy living in the Alazza camp. Echlas is also my Arabic teacher whom I visited twice per week to start my Arabic learning journey. The Alazza camp is less than a 10 minute walk from the Aida camp, and Echlas has an amazing story to tell. As with many of the personal stories of Paletinina’s living under occupation, you might not even believe they are true unless you heard them straight from the source. In this episode Echlas talked about living with her disability, being intentionally hit by a settler in a car in 1995, her experience in hospital in the ’48 lands, learning English and German, becoming a teacher, her volunteer program. Echlas takes volunteers at her home in the Alazza camp to help her around the house, and also provides a kind of cultural exchange for volunteers who are staying with her learning about the political situation in Palestine, food, culture, language, and meeting with other organisations groups and individuals around the west bank. if you are interested in finding out more about Echlas’s volunteer program you can send her a message on Facebook (Echlas Al-Azza) drop her an email to [email protected] 

Massive thank you to the supports and Patrons of the show for your patience during this break from episodes. You are a bunch of legends. We have some great episodes planned for the coming weeks and months and cant wait to share them with you. As usual this episode and all the rest of them are available to listen to for free on our website www.rebelmatters.ie and all usual podcast platforms.

In this episode we talk about some of Caoimhe's work past and present, working within marganilsed and migrating communities, and touch on the role of self-care and compassion when undertaking work in what can often be a traumatising environment. 

This chat flowed very naturally, and while the subject matter was at times heavy I really enjoyed talking to Caoimhe.

This epsidoe was edited by Emma Ní Chearúil. 

This week's epsiode is with my long term friend Conor Hammersley, and in this episode we discusses the isssues of male violence towards women and men's health. 

Conor has extensive experience in the area of men’s health at a research, policy and advocacy level. He is a PhD Scholar with Teagasc and the National Center for Men’s Health and his work looks at the socio-cultural context that shapes gendered behaviour among rural men in Ireland. 

His research interests include gender and health, mental health and suicide prevention in men, and health promotion targeted at ‘hard to reach’ populations of men. 

He has a number of peer-reviewed publications and has presented at national and international conferences on rural men’s health and is a board member of the Ending Sexual Violence, Prevention and Support Committee (ESP) in the Institute of Technology Carlow and the National Farmer Health Alliance in Ireland and a member of the American Public Health Association. 

This epsiode was edite by Emma Ní Chearúil. 

Fidelma O’Kane from the Save Our Sperrins anti-gold mining campaign is our guest on episode 106. This chat was a massive eye opener for me. What I thought was a big gold-mining company picking on a small rural community was way off. The success of the Save Our Sperrins campaign is critical to close the door on gold mining prospects popping up all over the country. If the gold mine goes ahead in the Sperrins goes ahead it will be an ecological and environmental train wreck, and will jeopardise the lives of the people who live there now and the lives of future generations. 

Follow Save Our Sperrins on facebook and listen to the horrendous plans that Dalradian Gold have in store for the people of the Sperrins. They plan to have 2 explosions in the area every day for 20 years and the plans include cyanid pits, mountains of waste rock and destruction of an area of outstanding natural beauty. 

Notably minister for the environment in the 26 counties Eamonn Ryan signed the petition to stop the Sperrins goldmine, and is the minister in charge of granting current gold mining prospect license of which there are 2 planned for Cork and Kerry. Further, Dalraian used 2 Belfast based PR companies to further their plans and public image in the Sperrins; MCE and AV Brown. Interestingly one of the Directors of MCE Ben Mallon is a former DUP councillor and another Lindsay Millar is a former UUP Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. 

Episode available on all usual platforms. Thank you to Fidelma for being a guest on the show and thanks to the supporters of the show who are subscribed via patreon.com/rebelmatters. 

Map of gold mining prospecting licences in the north:

https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/economy/mineral-prospecting-licence-map-council-boundaries.pdf

Map showing prospecting licences in the south:

http://spatial.dcenr.gov.ie/EMD_DOWNLOAD/Nov2021/PL_Map_Nov2021_A0.pdf

Tomás Mulligan is our guest for episode 105 of Rebel Matters. We discussed the supposed ‘development’ that was planned for the Cobblestone Bar last year, an institution of traditional music and a cultural hub in Dublin city. Tomás shares his family long standing and deep connection with the Cobblestone, talks about how they found out about the proposed plan, and how the protests took hold that ultimately saved the Cobblestones from being the latest casualty what seems to be a sustained attack on cultural spaces in Dublin city. An important listen for anyone interested in organising collective action to protect cultural and communal spaces, and for anyone who is interested in preserving the spaces that that allow our music, art, and culture to flourish. 

In this episode Ainle chats to screenwriter, radio presenter, and at time of writing president of Radio Skidrow in Sydney Australia. The chat ranged from the importance of acknowledging the original people and place names of land that is now. most commonly known as Australia, Huna's work at Radio Skidrow, the challenges faced by the station during the pandemic, and the power of community radio. 

This is our first proper episode back after the bit of. Break over the last few months. I recorded this chat with Timmy and James from the Two Norries Podcast about 4 months ago in the social space at ACLAÍ. 

This is such a special episode for me as I got to spend more time with Timmy and James who I first met when I was a guest on the 2 Norrries a while back. We chatted about some of the socio-economic divides that exist in Cork city and the lads share some of their own stories in a very personal and honest way. I can’t thank the lads enough for being guests on the show, and I think this episode will be of help to someone out there as well as being a great listen and insight into Timmy and James’s journeys so far. 

It has been 15 weeks since the last episode and this one is a short catchup with Ainle to get the ball rolling again. The chat veers towards ACLAÍ, one year anniversaries, music, and the plan for RMP in the upcoming weeks. There is a howling wind to be heard during this episode and a bit of whinging from Neansaí, the latest addition to the Rebel Matters household!

When I was in Belfast recently I put this special edition together featuring tracks from my mum's rather extensive and broad ranging CD collection. A nice way to spend an evening and something different than the regular Rebel Matters format!