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Over the centuries, millions of people emigrated from the island of Ireland to the United States. Every one of those people left someone behind as they went to find a better life in a new land. The only way to stay in touch with family and friends was through a letter home and millions were written and sent back and forth over time. Now a new archive at University of Galway reveals the stories of these Irish emigrants as they went in search of a new lives from the silver mines of Colorado to Jazz age Hollywood via head-hunters in the Amazon forest. Dating from the late 1600s through to the mid-20th century, this archive contains over 7,000 letters.

Credits: Narrated and produced by Tim Desmond. Additional recording by Pat McGrath. Readings By Patrick Dunne, Jan Ní Fhlanagain, Goretti Slavin, Muireann Ahern, Louis Lovett, Damien Ó Dónaill Paula Sheilds and Shauna McGreevy.(2024)

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Paul – not his real name – is in his thirties, and he has never had a sexual or romantic relationship. He goes to work and gets on with his colleagues but nobody knows the life of quiet despair that he lives. Nobody knows that he is an ‘incel’. Incels – or involuntary celibates - are men who define themselves as people who cannot find anybody to have a romantic or sexual relationship with, despite wanting one. Incels hang out on the darker fringes of the Internet, commiserating with each other and venting about women and society. It is a deeply misogynistic space, filled with hate speech. It is also filled with loneliness and sadness. Incels, especially in Ireland, rarely speak to the media but we delve into the world of inceldom and discover what the world looks like through their eyes.

Warning: This documentary contains adult themes, discusses offensive themes, violence and suicide that could be upsetting or triggering for some people, so please take care. 

Narrated by Alan Bradley. Produced by Alan Bradley and Nicoline Greer (2024)

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On the evening of November 20th 2014 a young Irish-American student named Devin Reardon was at his University campus in Florida. Alarms started to go off, at first one and then every siren on the college grounds. Students were warned to get back to their dormitories and barricade the doors. What Devin didn’t yet realise was that a gunman was roaming the campus and he was shooting Devin’s fellow students. He and his two roommates pushed furniture against their door as shots rang out from the adjacent Library building.  

Devin scrambled for his mobile phone and called his mother who also lived in Florida. She switched on her TV and, to her horror witnessed the event being covered live on the news networks. Having shot a number of students the assailant was killed by police. Devin would never be the same again. 

What’s more, the woman who he called that night, his mother Nadia Ramoutar had years before also nearly died at her own university in Florida. She was faced that November night in 2014 with the possibility that her son, like her, was in danger of losing his life on his own college campus at the same age she was when she herself almost died. 

What Devin and Nadia came to realise was that their traumatic attacks were not the end of their experience with violence but the very beginning. The aftermath of the attacks left wreckage in their lives which took years to cope with and it’s a personal journey for both mother and son which continues today. 

Unfortunately their stories were not isolated. America, which had always had violence woven into the fabric of its society had seen a deepening and a darkening of its social problems. High profile violent events became ever more common place from the early 1980s with the shootings of John Lennon and Ronald Reagan through the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots, the Columbine school massacre, the killing of George Floyd in broad daylight by police, right up to the mass shootings of today which, chillingly, average almost two per day in the United States. 

The Documentary on One charts the lives of a mother and son whose experience mirrored the troubles their country was dealing with until they finally could take no more and left for the relative safety of Ireland. 

“In Search Of Safety"was narrated by Donal O’Herlihy 

It was produced by Donal O’Herlihy and Kathy Fox. Sound was by Ciaran Cullen. 

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this documentary you can find help at Helplines – About RTÉ

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The world of Irish politics has changed. There's more personal abuse and stress on public representatives - both inside and outside Leinster House - than ever before. One young politician described being physically sick at "the level of nastiness" directed at her. It’s feared this could damage Irish democracy by discouraging new candidates. We examine the mental health and well-being of Irish Politicians and look around the world to possible solutions. Narrated and produced by Ronan Kelly (2024)

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