About Us
Aran Island Discs is an Irish conversation podcast about people, music, memory and the stories that shape a life.
Hosted by Rossa McDermott, the podcast welcomes fascinating people from sport, business, broadcasting, politics, music, journalism and the arts. Against the imagined backdrop of the wild and windswept Aran Islands, guests use music as a gateway into their personal stories — childhood, ambition, success, setbacks, relationships, resilience and the people and moments that changed them.
The music is the starting point rather than the destination. The real purpose of Aran Island Discs is to get beyond the public persona and discover the person behind the achievements.
The conversations are warm, relaxed and distinctly Irish, with plenty of humour and nostalgia but also room for honesty and reflection. A recurring question running through the series is simple: what does being Irish mean to you?
SOME OF OUR GUESTS SO FAR
The growing guest list demonstrates the breadth of the programme, including Alan Joyce, Willie Walsh, Ivan Yates, Dick Spring, Kevin Kilbane, Paul Wallace, Brent Pope, Conor Niland, Gavin Friday, Eamon Carr, Daniel Mulhall, Niall O'Dowd, Mike Ruddock, John Robbie, Deb Grant, Caroline McGuigan, Aedín Ní Thiarnaigh, Olivia Hunt and Declan Ryan
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