Send us Fan Mail

Though the latest Irish Stew guest is Aileesh Carew, CEO and Museum Director of Dublin’s EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, this interview takes place in Philadelphia, upstairs again at Fergie’s Pub. Both Aileesh and cohost John Lee came to the “City of Brotherly Love” for the Irish American Business Chamber and Network’s Ambassador’s Awards where Aileesh would accept the Uachtarán Award for EPIC as an organization that has shown exemplary leadership in philanthropic contributions of time and talent to non-profits in Ireland.

"We are so honored to be recognized by the Irish American Business Chamber and Network, an organization that really understands and deeply cares about the Irish community, the links and the legacy,” she says.

The award comes at an especially meaningful time for EPIC.

“To receive the award and be recognized in our 10th anniversary year is very special to us,” says Aileesh, who has been with EPIC almost every step of the way. “EPIC’s purpose really is to tell the impact of the Irish around the world. Over 70 million people claim Irish heritage and we can chart at EPIC 1,500 years of immigration. It's the legacy of what the Irish people have achieved around the world."

Philadelphia was an important destination for Irish emigres and many played key roles in the birth of the American republic.

"John Dunlap was the printer of the Declaration of Independence. He was born in Bann in County Tyrone. He immigrated to Philadelphia as a boy and built one of the city's most influential printing businesses. He actually printed the Declaration working through the night on July 4th, 1776, and went on to print the first 200 copies of the Declaration of Independence."

Over its ten-year history, the interactive EPIC experience rose quickly in the ranks of not only Irish but European destinations, awarded Europe's Leading Tourist Attraction three years in a row.

Take that Eiffel Tower!

But rather than counting their laurels, Aileesh and her team are charting the course for the next ten years.

She says, "If you stand still, you go backwards, so we’ve embarked on a 10-year master plan. We're about to unveil three brand new galleries including “Isle of the Senses”f that will chart and evoke the Ireland the people left behind, what people take with them in the smell, the touch, the sense, and in their hearts.”

This is Irish Stew’s second EPIC episode having featured its first director, John Patrick Greene, for episode that dropped in 2022.

Next week Irish Stew shares the buzz around the Capital Irish Film Festival in conversations with the great cinema talent at the annual Solas Nua event.

Links

• Irish Stew Newsletter Signup - on home page

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Instagram

Aileesh Carew

• LinkedIn

Irish Stew Links

• Episode Page: Aileesh Carew
• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 14; Total Episode Count: 155

Send us Fan Mail

No Ordinary Heist had just finished rolling when Irish Stew cohosts Martin Nutty and John Lee took to the AFI Silver Theatre stage on the second night of the 2026 Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival in metro-Washington, DC. Before a near-capacity crowd of almost 400, the podcasters-in-residence led the post-screening Q&A on the gripping new Irish thriller inspired by the 2004 Northern Bank robbery in Belfast, still one of the largest bank robberies in British and Irish history, with £26.5 million in cash stolen.

On stage with John and Martin are the film's Belfast-raised director and co-writer Colin McIvor and Dublin-based producer Ruth Carter of Picture Locked Productions. The conversation explores the riveting human stories of the film set against the backdrop of a city emerging from The Troubles, the meticulous casting of Eddie Marsan and Éanna Hardwicke in leading roles alongside memorable Irish supporting talent, and the editorial choices that kept audiences white-knuckled throughout.

"The old cliche is that you create your heroes and then you trip them up every two minutes. Just what else can you do to screw it up for them," Colin says explaining the creative philosophy behind the film's tension.

The discussion broadens to explore the thriving all-island filmmaking ecosystem, with Ruth noting the increasingly seamless collaboration between Northern Ireland Screen and Screen Ireland saying, "We're really lucky in Ireland because we have such great support both in the South and in the North. They really go with an all-Ireland approach as much as they can."

Reflecting on how far Northern Ireland's film industry has come since 2004, Colin adds, "It's hard to believe that when I was a student coming through, that we would be where we are. We have got a place in the filmmaking industry now."

An engaging night of Irish cinema, covering everything from the craft of tension-building to the state of all-island filmmaking, all in this episode of Irish Stew.

With thanks to the Northern Ireland Bureau for their support of this screening and Q&A, Solas Nua and Festival Director Maedhbh Mc Cullagh for naming Irish Stew in the Capital Irish Film Festival Podcast-in-Residence and to John Collins for recording this episode.

Links

No Ordinary Heist

• IMDb
• Wikipedia

Colin McIvor

• IMDb

Ruth Carter

• Picture Locked Productions
• IMDb
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

All Irish Stew Libations Episodes - Ten episodes. All in one place.

• Capital Irish Film Festival Episodes

Irish Stew Links

• Episode Page: Fergus Carey
• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Bluesky
• Mastodon
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 13; Total Episode Co

North Dublin native Fergus “Fergie” Carey didn’t just open a bar in Philadelphia, he helped invent a neighborhood, a scene, and a sense of community that stretches from Center City to the Irish arts world and back again. In this on‑location episode recorded upstairs at Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street, Irish Stew cohost John Lee traces Fergie’s journey from Burgerland on O’Connell Street to becoming one of Philly’s best‑known publicans and civic connectors.

Fergie recalls the bleak job prospects of 1980s Dublin, his short, ill‑fated stint in Houston, and the sudden sense of being “revered because you’re Irish” when he finally landed in Philadelphia and started a job at El Taco Grande the very next morning. He walks us through bartending at McGlinchey’s, the leap to open Fergie’s with his Palestinian partner Wajih Abed in a rough‑and‑tumble City Center street, and the chaos of a first night saw the Guinness run dry in 40 minutes.

We explore how Fergie built a career as co‑owner or founder of beloved spots like Monk’s Café, The Goat, The Jim, and soon The Monto, while never losing sight of the core lesson he learned in fast food: you’re managing people, not walls. He talks about keeping a pub current yet grounded in tradition through his self-invented live-band karaoke, Quizzo evenings, Saturday trad sessions, ballad nights, and the hugely popular “pub sing.”

We also hear about Fergie’s deep engagement with Philadelphia’s civic and Irish cultural life, from Inis Nua Theatre Company and Beckett in the back room, to his tours to Ireland and charity concerts like his recreation of The Last Waltz.

We spoke on eve of the Irish American Business Chamber & Network’s Ambassador’s Awards Luncheon, the signature annual Irish event on the city’s calendar, after which those in-the-know kept the craic going at the nearby Fergie’s Pub.

Among them were local business and civic leaders John Cummins and Adele Farrell who will share their insights on the Irish American Business Chamber & Network and tales from their own Dublin-to-Philadelphia success story on a future episode of Irish Stew.

Links

Fergie’s Pub

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram

All Irish Stew Libations Episodes - Ten episodes. All in one place.

• Libations Episodes

Irish Stew Links

• Episode Page: Fergus Carey
• Website Home Page
• Facebook
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Bluesky
• Mastodon
• Media Partner: IrishCentral

Episode Details: Season 8, Episode 12; Total Episode Count: 153