Gearóid Mcdaid, known across the surfing world as G-Man, grew up twenty minutes from Mullaghmore, County Sligo's fearsome slab wave, and now holds the 2025 European shortboard title with an eye on the 2028 LA Olympics. John and Martin caught him mid-vacation in New York, tucked into Georgie's Chelsea, right under a photograph of the man himself mid-wave.

"It's a pretty cool thing that surfing's in the Olympics now," he says. Gearóid's victory at the European Championships last year did its part for the sport back home, proof, as he puts it, that Ireland has surfers who can compete with the best in the world.

Gearóid walks us through the two lives of a pro surfer: the technical, judged world of competition, and the far riskier business of chasing 50-foot slabs at Mullaghmore, a wave made by limestone reef geology and giant North Athlantic swells. Chasing those waves takes a safety crew on jet skis and a fair amount of nerve, skills built on a childhood his surfer father set in motion, long before Mullaghmore's entered the picture.

"You're always scared," he admits, "but it's just trying to push through it and enjoy it."

He talks sponsors, wave pool training in Scotland, four straight years of injuries, and the tight-knit, fast-growing surf scene back home. "The Irish surf community's so small," he says. "Everyone knows each other that surfs."

Next up for G-Man: a video trip to France for Monster in October, then the World Championships in Peru in November, all building toward one goal. As Martin puts it, fingers crossed we'll see the Irish flag flying on a beach at the LA Olympics in 2028.

LINKS

GEARÓID MCDAID

• Instagram
• YouTube
  • Mullaghmore in the Summer - Hurricane Erin Swell
  • Mullaghmore in the Winter - Dec 2025
• Seamus Plug: Jackdaw
  
  

GEORGIES CHELSEA (our hosts for this episode)

• Website
  
  

POINTBREAK (this episode's featured music)

• Bandcamp
  
  

IRISH STEW LINKS

• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 24; Total Episode Count: 165

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One year and a week since taking his new post, the Consul General of Ireland in New York Gerald Angley hosted the Irish Stew podcasters in his office high above Park Avenue for a behind-the-scenes look at Irish diplomacy in action while sharing his reflections on the first year on the job.

One event stands out for Gerald.

"The scale of St. Patrick's Day blew our minds,” he says. “It's 24/7 for a number of weeks."

Gerald walks listeners through the impressive scale of his six-state consular territory of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

"That's 59 million people. That's the same population as the UK," he notes, adding that the region ranks as the world's third-largest economy in its own right.

The conversation traces Gerald’s path from a University College Dublin commerce degree and a stint at Citibank to a career in the Department of Foreign Affairs, with postings in Brussels, Paris, and London during Brexit. On landing the coveted New York job, he admits to a bold move: "I wrote a letter that said, 'I dare you not to pick me.'"

Talk turns to the perennial Irish Stew topic of diaspora engagement, where the diplomat reflects on evolving Irish American identity, saying, "We have to look at it not as purely Irish-born people, but rather people who have several identities."

He also points to what distinguishes Ireland's mission from other consulates: "We're one of the only countries that has an immigrant support fund... we need to be bigger than most of the other consulates, and we are."

As the episode wraps, Gerald provides the listeners with his must-read book recommendation and previews of the imminent launch the Green Pages, the new directory of Irish organizations in his consul region.

And what’s it like to be a Consul General in New York? Gerald quotes a predecessor in his role who said, "It’s Wall Street by day, Broadway by night!”

Links:

Gerald Angley

• Website
• LinkedIn

Consulate General of Ireland in New York

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Facebook
• X

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 23; Total Episode Count: 164

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Why doesn’t a country good enough to produce Ryanair and Stripe have a normal venture fund industry? Alan Merriman spent three years lobbying the Irish government just to be allowed to launch one, and what he ran into along the way says more about Ireland’s capital gap than most economic reports ever will.

Merriman built Elkstone from a boutique advisory firm into one of Ireland's most active venture investors, and in this conversation he's candid about what it actually took to get there. In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why Ireland’s tax code made venture investing nearly impossible before 2022, and what it took to change it
• Why Merriman puts the quality of a founder at eighty percent of any investment decision, and what he’s really screening for
• Why Elkstone bets on the country instead of a sector, and what that says about the depth of the Irish market
• What Merriman calls “network compounding,” and his pitch for why the Irish diaspora is worth more than its checkbook

If you've ever wondered what it actually takes to build serious venture capital in a small country, or how Merriman makes the case for engaging the Irish diaspora as more than a source of sentiment, this one's worth the full listen.

ALAN MERRIMAN LINKS

• LinkedIn
• Elkstone

IRISH STEW LINKS

• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral
  
  

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 22; Total Episode Count: 163

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Through its ongoing “Global Irish Nation Conversation” Irish Stew is all about connecting the worldwide Irish family, so sitting down with Dr. Martin Russell, one of the world's foremost diaspora engagement strategists, felt like a meeting of kindred missions. The proud Corkonian has spent nearly two decades turning diaspora theory into practice, working with governments and communities across Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Balkans, all while championing Ireland's potential to be a global leader in the field.

Hosts John Lee and Martin Nutty open with a thought-starter on the "diaspora World Cup" unfolding across North America, then trace Russell's journey from a would-be mathematician at UCC to a scholar of the Irish diaspora's role in the Northern Ireland peace process. Along the way, Russell unpacks the famous 70 million Irish worldwide figure, his four pillars of diaspora engagement, and the crucial distinction between migration and diaspora.

"Other partners come and go and that's fine. That's the nature of life. But your diaspora are a community of consistency if you do it well," Russell says, making the case to governments worldwide.

The conversation turns to Ireland's new Diaspora Strategy 2026–2030, which Russell's research helped inform, the duty of care owed to the vulnerable Irish abroad, and the threat of "diaspora fade" in Irish America. His answer? "The quick answer is don't let it happen, be active."

A masterclass in belonging from a thought leader who's incredibly bullish on the diaspora's future.

MARTIN RUSSELL LINKS

• LinkedIn
• The Diaspora Institute
• The Networking Institute

EPISODE REFERENCE LINKS

• Ireland’s Diaspora Strategy, 2026-2030
• NY Times: Is this the diaspora World Cup?
• EU Global Diaspora Facility
• Institute for Integrated Transitions

BOOKS

• Fragile Neighborhoods by Seth Kaplan
• Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides by Jeffrey Cohen
• On Belonging: Finding Connection in an Age of Isolation by Kim Samuel

IRISH STEW LINKS

• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral
  
  

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 21; Total Episode Count: 162

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From Crumlin and Tallaght to the City of Brotherly Love, Irish Stew spins another Philadelphia story, appropriately timed to America's Fourth of July celebration of the Declaration of Independence forged in Philadelphia 250 years ago.

Recorded in advance of Philadelphia's Irish American Business Chamber & Network's Ambassador Awards Luncheon, cohost John Lee talks with John Cummins and Adele Farrell, who drew on the grit of their working-class Dublin roots to build business success and rewarding lives in America.

They tell of brutal Boston winters, tropical job sites in Puerto Rico, founding their breakout company NEXA Enterprise Asset Management, successfully exiting from it, and founding their new business initiative, Cummins Business Ventures.

The pair underscore the importance of the Irish American Business Chamber and Network in their success story, calling it the “missing piece” they wished they'd found on day one. They look forward to the Chamber’s signature Ambassador Awards event every year, especially in 2023 when John and Adele received the IABCN’s prestigious Taoiseach Award.

The episode wraps with a heartfelt Seamus Plug. This October, in partnership with the IABCN, John and Adele are launching a fundraising gala benefiting The Autism Hub, a new Dublin-based charity providing assessments, therapies, and family support for autism services in Ireland, a cause that's become deeply personal for them both. Hosted by their Rise Above Fund and the IABCN, The Infinity Gala will be held on Oct 15 in Warrington, PA.

It’s a warm, genuine, and often inspiring Global Irish Nation Conversation about finding your tribe in Philadelphia, three thousand miles from home.

LINKS

• John Cummins LinkedIn
• Adele Farrell LinkedIn
• The Rise Above Fund
• Irish American Business Chamber & Network
• Infinity Gala

IRISH STEW LINKS

• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral
  
  

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 20; Total Episode Count: 161

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What's Sherlock Holmes doing in New York's most Fenian pub?

That's the intrigue at the heart of Terror From America: A Sherlock Holmes
Adventure, the debut novel from journalist and historian Terry Golway, and the
question Irish Stew podcast cohosts Martin Nutty and John Lee set out to answer
before a packed, raucous house at Ernie O'Malley's on the first of June.

A Staten Island native with a Ph.D. in U.S. history from Rutgers and two decades
of political reporting at the New York Observer, Golway has written more than a
dozen acclaimed works of nonfiction. But fiction, he tells us, unlocks something
facts alone cannot: "You can learn as much about history through a novel as you
can in a history book."

His novel imagines Britain dispatching the world's greatest detective to infiltrate
the Irish American revolutionary underground of 1885 New York, a mission
rooted in a real and largely forgotten chapter of history. "The original crime is
based on something that actually happened," Golway explains. "Several Irish
Americans were going to try to blow up London Bridge…instead they blew
themselves up."

Holmes's investigation pulls him into the orbit of real historical figures, none
more compelling than John Devoy. In a dramatic reading brought brilliantly to
life by actor Mick Mellamphy, Devoy records in his diary what Charles Parnell
had told him when they met: "The American people are now the arbiters of the
Irish question,” to which Devoy replied, "I almost had tears in my eyes when I
heard those words. That was exactly what we in New York wished to be, the
arbiters of the Irish question."

And what does Holmes make of the Fenians he encounters? After infiltrating New
York’s Irish revolutionary underground as an itinerant fiddler at Clan na Gael
gatherings, Sherlock observed, "The Fenians who inhabit the back rooms of New
York's clubhouses and taverns bear little resemblance to the crude caricatures
portrayed in some less reputable newspapers. Formidable not because of their
capacity for mayhem, but because of the power they yield over the production of
memories."

Fiddler Eileen McLain provided the evening’s musical accents while Mick
Mellamphy served as producer. Past Irish Stew guests Peter Quinn, Larry Kirwan,
and Maura Clare were in the house as were Black 47 co-founder Chris Byrne and
Irish American Writers & Artists president Liza Engesser.

LINKS

TERRY GOLWAY

• Website
• Substack: Observer
• LinkedIn
• Book: Terror From America
• Amazon: Terror From America

ERNIE O'MALLEY'S

• Website

IRISH STEW LINKS

• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 19; Total Episode Count: 160

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When Frederick Douglass left Belfast in 1845, only seven years after escaping slavery, he declared: "Wherever else I feel myself to be a stranger, I will remember I have a home in Belfast." That remarkable statement from a Black abolitionist finding radical welcome in a 19th-century Irish city is the beating heart of North Star, the immersive musical and theatrical experience that Northern Ireland-based DJ, broadcaster, and creative producer Kwame Daniels brings to New York's Irish Arts Center, June 3–21.

Irish Stew cohosts Martin Nutty and John Lee met Kwame at the Irish Arts Center a few days before opening night and recorded this episode in the IAC Library

He relates that his journey to Belfast began in a Ghanaian household in East London, where identity was worn proudly inside the home and navigated carefully beyond it. "As soon as we entered the house again, it was absolutely back to the background, the roots, and the culture," he recalls. "But outside, there was almost a code-switch going on. We were firm in our identity, and yet we were also aware of our surroundings and how we had to move within them." That same fluency served him when he arrived in Derry in 1997 and found a city divided along lines he didn't yet understand. Music became his passport across the sectarian divide. "I was bringing in sets of decks (the equipment DJs use to play, control, and manipulate music). That's the conversation, all the other conversations come out of that."

Kwame relates that Douglass's Belfast story with his evocation of finding a home in the city hit him with the force of revelation. "A Black man, an enslaved man on the run in 1845 and that's his response to being in Belfast. That has to be the starting point for us to reset."

The result is a 77-minute production, one minute for every year of Douglass's life, an immersive experience fusing hip-hop, jazz, gospel, classical, and electronic music with spoken word, choral arrangements, and the honest voices of young people from both Belfast and New York. "You're going to be presented with a level of musicianship that is extraordinary, and it's unlike anything you've ever seen."

North Star runs June 3–21 at the Irish Arts Center, tickets at irishartscenter.org.

Next up from Irish Stew, Fresh Stew LIVE with Terry Golway on his new thriller Terror From America: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, recorded before sold out audience in the Malachy McCourt Room at Ernie O’Malley’s Pub in NYC with the fiddler Eileen McLain and actor Mick Mellamphy enhancing the experience.

LINKS

NORTH STAR

• Irish Arts Center info and tickets
• Instagram

KWAME DANIELS

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

ORGANIZATIONS

• Bounce Culture
• Solab

IRISH STEW LINKS

• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 18; Total Episode Count: 159

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While Team Irish Stew preps for its Fresh Stew LIVE before a paying (!) audience on June 1, past guest Sean Granahan and The Floating Hospital he leads are gearing up for June 2, the evening of their 160th anniversary Summer Gala. Given the charity's deep roots serving Irish and other impoverished newcomers to New York, John and Martin are revisiting their conversation with Sean to shine a fresh light on the Floating Hospital and its mission-critical fundraising effort.

Sean is a Pennsylvania-born lawyer with Mayo and Dublin roots who has spent two decades leading the Floating Hospital, a charity founded to provide basic healthcare to the Irish and other destitute arrivals crowded into New York’s first slum, Five Points, where tuberculosis was grimly called "the natural death of the Irish."

Today the Floating Hospital is New York City's largest healthcare provider to families in homeless shelters and domestic violence safe houses, caring for 30,000 people annually across pediatric, mental health, and dental services.
Sean notes that since its origins 160 years ago, The Floating Hospital has stood on its "three-legged stool" of meeting immediate needs of displaced people, providing essential health education, and delivering care to its neighbors in need.

The charity's colorful maritime era saw ships taking kids on fresh-air harbor cruises while delivering vaccines and health education, a chapter paused after 9/11 when their vessel, the Lia, was retired. After 20 years at the helm, Sean still dreams of sailing again, saying, "The ship is magical. If you want to get 500 kids vaccinated, all you do is say, 'We're going out on the ship on Friday,' and you'll have a thousand."

A volunteer stint keeping the then-struggling organization afloat rerouted Sean's career from corporate law to community service. He and his staff continue navigating funding threats and political headwinds to serve the city's most vulnerable families.

Now we can help, through attending the Floating Hospital Summer Gala or providing a donation to support the organization that helped so many Irish and other newcomers survive and thrive in New York.

FLOATING HOSPITAL LINKS

• Website
• Summer Gala Tickets
• Giving
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Blue Sky
  
  

IRISH STEW LINKS

• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 17; Total Episode Count: 158

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