The Ireland Podcast has no political or religious agenda. Its purpose is simple: Celebrate The Island - its people, its stories, and its many faces, from rural landscapes to bustling cities, and from home to diaspora.
My story actually begins over 100 years ago. At a time when Gaelic was dying out as a first language across the six counties of Northern Ireland, a priest recognised the urgency of preserving it. He went to the last remaining native speakers in the area and carefully transcribed their stories. This remarkable collection became known as The Heron Papers and you can view them in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin today.
The priest, Patrick J Heron (or Priest Heron as he was known more locally at the time), was my paternal grandfather’s brother, and through his work, a piece of our family history became intertwined with the wider story of Ireland’s linguistic and cultural survival. It is a legacy that has inspired my own efforts to capture and share Irish voices today through The Ireland Podcast.
I am Fender Jackson, originally from the Sperrin Mountains, County Derry. I grew up in a “teaghlach foghlama”, a house of learning Gaelic, where I learned Irish with my father. Music and storytelling shaped my early life and continue to guide how I view the world today.
After five years pursuing a non-existent music career in Belfast, I left Ireland in 1996 to go to University in Yorkshire. I then spent fifteen years in London working as a musician and music journalist (amongst other things). Around about the turn of the millennium, I began recording interviews with family members for posterity. I should state here that I was not aware of the work my grand-uncle had done before but looking back, I often ponder the parallels between The Ireland Podcast and The Heron Papers. Am I shaped by the same curiosity and dedication as my grand-uncle through nature, or nurture? I think, as Lillis Ó Laoire has suggested, the answer might be “both.”
Both of my grandfathers had passed before I was born. I have often wondered what they were like: how did they talk? How did they laugh? What were their life stories?
Even before my own children existed, I went to some of my existing family members to preserve their voices and stories for future generations.
I married in London, and in 2014 I moved with my Chinese wife and our two sons to China. It was there that I taught Performing Arts, embracing a new culture while continuing creative work. D’éirigh liom cúpla focal a fhoghlaim i Sínis. (I even managed to learn a few words in Chinese: 我现在可以说中文了! Wǒ xiànzài kěyǐ shuō zhōngwénle!)
The Covid pandemic brought profound personal loss to many - myself included. Whilst still in China, my marriage ended, my mother died, and a loved one took their life - all within three months. What kept me going was a network of beautiful friends and listening to local radio back home as well as podcasts in the west in general.
After returning home in the summer of 2022, I felt a sense of dislocation that many who have lived abroad understand. As Tom Waits sang:
"It was a train that took me away from here,
But a train can't bring me home."
Train Song by Tom Waits - Franks Wild Years 1987
I settled in Galway on the west coast of Ireland. Though I speak some Irish, I lack the necessary qualifications to teach full-time, and substitute teaching work was limited. I thought of the Irish abroad - those missing home - and of the rural child I once was, from the Sperrins, often overlooked in media coverage. These reflections inspired The Ireland Podcast: a platform to Celebrate The Island, inspire rural and urban communities, and offer the diaspora a connection to contemporary Ireland.
Over the last 23 months, I have recorded 191 episodes, capturing voices from across the island and beyond. The Ireland Podcast embraces rural life, urban experience, expat perspectives, and diaspora stories. Together, they show Ireland in all its complexity, resilience, and diversity. Each story is a reminder that Ireland is not just a place, but a network of people, memories, and connections that span generations and continents.
In the coming weeks, I will share a selection of episodes on Irish Echo and Andersonstown News, showcasing the generosity of everyone who contributed their time and stories. These narratives form a mosaic of Ireland: its past, its present, and the living connections that stretch across the globe.
At its core, The Ireland Podcast is a celebration. It honours the rural and urban, the local and global, and the voices of those at home and abroad. Through these stories, the podcast reminds us that Ireland’s identity lives in its people, their experiences, and the ties that connect them. To listen, engage, and share is indeed to Celebrate The Island.
