10 best Irish podcasts of 2024: Stakeknife, The Gambler, Escape from the Maze... 

It's been a great year for the Irish podcasting world. Here's Eoghan O'Sullivan's selection of the must-listen shows 

Pictured clockwise: David O'Doherty; IRA membe Alfredo Scappatcci; and Killian Sundermann, Tony Cantwell and Shane Dan Byrne of the Young Hot Guyz podcast.

Stakeknife: The follow-up to Where is George Gibney?, Mark Horgan and Ciarán Cassidy probe the double life of Freddie Scappaticci, an IRA enforcer who was a secret informant known as Stakeknife. Second episode ‘Sin É’ is probably the best standalone show we heard this year.

The Gambler: Ian Malaney and Nicola Tallant follow-up 2021’s The Witness: In his Own Words by looking at and talking with the gambler Pat Sheedy. Eighteen months in the making, they thought it was going to be an easy enough process but it turned out to be a lot more complicated than that.

Young Hot Guys: Daniel Byrne, Tony Cantwell, and Killian Sundermann offer a warm hug of a weekly listen as the three up-and-coming comedians give us gentle banter and camaraderie.

Killian Sundermann, Tony Cantwell and Shane Dan Byrne of the Young Hot Guyz podcast

The Simpler Life? With James and William: There are plenty of couples’ podcasts out there, but the influencer James Kavanagh’s new show with his partner William Murray is a delight. Meandering in a good way, they’ve left Dublin for the countryside and a house in Kilkenny. How will they adapt?

What Did You Do Yesterday?: The Irish comedian David O’Doherty links with Football Daily co-host Max Rushden to talk with a host of guests and go in detail on one simple question: What did you do yesterday, from the moment you got up (or even while dreaming) to the time you headed back to bed? It’s unassumingly intimate and revealing.

Irish comedian David O'Doherty.

The History Podcast: Escape from the Maze: Writer Carlo Gebler taught at the notorious Maze prison complex in the mid-1990s and across 10 15-minute episodes, he tells the story of the 1983 escape from the Maze of 38 prisoners, the biggest jailbreak in British penal history.

The Real Carrie Jade: Featuring a protagonist known by different names to different people, this is a brilliantly addictive series with some horrific moments of revelation.

Medals & Mics: Derval O’Rourke, Rob Heffernan, and one of the voices of the Olympic summer David Gillick linked up for a six-part series looking at various parts of their own athletic careers. It’s informative, often funny, and shows the sacrifices required for sporting success.

Runaway Joe: This nine-part series takes us around the world, from New York, to south Dublin, East Berlin, Canada, and Cyprus, on the trail of Joe Maloney/Michael O’Shea, who was charged with the first-degree murder of his wife June Fisk in upstate New York in the 1960s but made a new life in Ireland.

The Madness of Football: From the Irish Examiner Sport team, this 10-part series examines the evolution of Gaelic football, looking back at key games from decades past that changed the sport.