Róisín Meets...

On this week’s Róisín Meets podcast, Heathers on writing their third album, working together and growing up as twins. The duo also performed two of their latest songs, November and Loosen Up.

On this week’s Róisín Meets podcast, adventurer and spinal cord injury campaigner Mark Pollock talks about rebuilding his identity after both blindness and paralysis. The Run in the Dark founder’s new mission is putting the topic of paralysis on the global agenda.

On this week’s Róisín Meets podcast, Róisín talks to Ross O’Carroll-Kelly creator Paul Howard and actor Rory Nolan about their upcoming production of Breaking Dad. The futuristic play is set in 2022, in the midst of an unexpected economic boom, with Bertie Ahern set to become Taoiseach again at age 71. Ross O’Carroll-Kelly’s teenage daughter arrives home one night with the captain of the Blackrock College rugby team, a younger version of himself. Breaking Dad is on from March 14-26 at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin and from March 29-April 2 at the University Concert Hall, Limerick. Tickets are on sale now from Ticketmaster outlets and The Gaiety Theatre box office.

On this week’s Róisín Meets podcast, actor Olwen Fouéré talks about her open marriage, Waking the Feminists and how wandering the wilds of Connemara as a child has informed her work. She describes the inspiration behind Riverrun, her award-winning adaptation of the voice of the river in Finnegan’s Wake. Fouéré stars in Survivalist, the film about three survivors carrying on as society crumbles, which is in cinemas now. She will perform in the Imagining Home series at the National Concert Hall on April 3rd. Full details about the series can be found at https://www.nch.ie/Online/Imagining-Home

“Standing for public office is not for the faint-hearted.” This week on the Róisín Meets podcast, RTE broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan talks to Róisín about her live election coverage. Now that the votes have been cast, she says she can stop being “tough and mean”.

On this week’s Róisín Meets podcast, Keith Duffy talks about reprising his role in Big Maggie, earning his acting chops and having a second go at fatherhood. Big Maggie is on at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin until 12th March. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster and the Gaiety Theatre box office.

Mary Black talks to Róisín about one of her passions: promoting home-grown Irish music on the radio. She tells Róisín about her upcoming Last Call tour in Australia, her last tour abroad. And they talk about her musical family - daughter Roisin O and son Danny O’Reilly, lead singer of rock band The Coronas. She has many upcoming performances, including one in Vicar Street, Dublin on 16th April and at the Millennium Forum in Derry on 23rd April.

Brendan and Declan Murphy, the brothers behind The 4 of Us, talk to Róisín about the inspiration behind their upcoming album Sugar Island. The autobiographical record is named after a spot in their hometown – Newry, Co Down, and the brothers play new single Birds Eye View and old favourite Mary. The band will perform songs from Sugar Island at the Spirit Store in Dundalk on 27th February at 8pm.

Róisín talks to midwife Philomena Canning, one of the key figures behind the new organisation Midwives For Choice. They talked about Canning’s experiences as a midwife in Saudi Arabia and the Australian outback and her thoughts about Ireland’s first National Maternity Strategy.

Broadcaster Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh sits down with Róisín to talk about something that many women suffer from, often in silence: urinary incontinence. They chat about speaking Irish, starting college for the first time, and Bláthnaid Libh, Ní Chofaigh’s new show on RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta Saturdays at 11am.

Broadcaster Louise McSharry sits down with Roísín to talk about why she decided to present the Operation Transformation radio show on RTÉ 2fm, and follow the show’s health and fitness plan herself, despite being “very critical” of the diet industry. She will be presenting Op Tran with Karl Henry, one of the show’s trainers, on 2fm on Saturday mornings from 9-11am. Her memoir Fat Chance will be published by Penguin this spring.

Chloe Agnew, the former lead singer of Celtic Woman who joined the show when she was just 15, sits down with Roísín to talk about growing up in the spotlight, her famous parents Twink (Adele King) and oboist David Agnew, and her career as a soloist, songwriter and actor. She returns to the stage on January 16th for her first major Irish concert at the National Concert Hall.

If you feel the urge up to turn over a new leaf or two on New Years Day, one bad habit you should consider ditching is excessive self-criticism. That's according to counsellor and Irish Times columnist Padraig O'Morain, who speaks with Roísín Ingle about "self compassion" on this week's podcast. Padraig explains how facing a challenging personal situation helped him realise that his own harsh self-criticism was preventing from taking action. "It occurred to me that what was making me so nervous was the sense that maybe I will not do this thing right, maybe ill come into criticism," he said. "Then I realised that the critic I was fearing most was myself." Padraig also leads a short mediatation. Happy New Year from the Roísín Meets team.

Earlier in December Roísín met with the conductor and young singers of the Palestrina Choir who performed a few tunes and chatted about changing voices, their challenging Christmas schedule and how singing is good for the soul. Happy Christmas from the Roísín Meets team.

Broadcaster Mike Murphy sits down with Roísín to talk about his upbringing, his academic failures and his career trajectory from stage actor to one of the country’s most popular broadcasters. He returns to television screens later this month to present the new quiz show Play It By Year, based on Reeling In The Years. Play It By Year will premiere on RTÉ on 27th December at 7pm and will air for four consecutive nights.

Friend of the show Mario Rosenstock returns to The Irish Times, dodges Conor Pope and Fintan O'Toole in the elevator and sits down with Roísín to talk about his new live show, his ever-expanding cast of characters and much, much more. PLUS: hear Counsellor Hugh McElvaney's new song. Mario Rosenstock Live will premiere in Cork Opera House on March 23rd 2016 before touring the country and finishing with five nights in the Gaiety Theatre from April 26th.

Christmas makes it presence felt for the first time this year as comedian, panto star and extremely likeable young man Al Porter visits Roísín in the Irish Times studio. Later in the show his panto co-star Dustin the Turkey makes an unexpected entrance. Freezin' - The Story of the Snow Queen is on at The Olympia Theatre from Friday 18th December 2015 to Sunday 10th January 2016.

One year on, Father Peter McVerry returns to Roísín Meets to report on the escalating homelessness crisis.

Derry Clarke has been in the restaurant business for three decades. His restaurant l'Ecrivain has seen boom times and recessions come and go and all things in the business change, from the food to the diners' clothing, from the era of the long business lunch to the scourge of smartphone use at the table. He has also had his share of tragedy and sadness. On today's podcast he tells Roísín his story of survival over the years.

LauraLynn Children’s Hospice is named for the two daughters of its founder, Jane McKenna. Laura (4) died of a heart defect. Her older sister Lynn (15) developed leukemia while Laura was in hospital and died less than two years later. On this week’s podcast, Jane talks about the memory of her late daughters, dealing with grief, and how she set up LauraLynn to provide Ireland’s only dedicated palliative care service for children.