Thinking Allowed, 1 July 2025
Prof. Louise Ryan and Prof. Bronwen Walter discussed their research on Irish migration on the long running BBC Radio 4 programme Thinking Allowed.
The programme hosted by sociologist Laurie Taylor focused on the history of Irish migration to Britain and in particular the contribution of Irish women migrants.
The conditionality and contingency of Irish migrants' positionality in British society was a key topic of discussion, especially during the decades of the Northern Irish 'Troubles' when it was very difficult to be Irish in Britain.
The book Irish Nurses in the NHS: an oral history featured prominently in the programme and offered important insights into the complex experiences of Irish nurses as much needed workers but also as targets of abuse and racialisation.
Women's Hour, 29 December 2025
Prof. Louise Ryan appeared on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour along with one of the research participants of the Irish Nurses in the NHS project, Ethel Corduff, to talk about the immense contribution of the Irish Nurses to the British National Health Service.
"From the very beginning of the NHS in 1948, Irish women were actively recruited to staff British hospitals. By the 1960s, there were around 30,000 Irish-born nurses - making up roughly one in eight of all nurses – yet their contribution has often gone unrecognised. A new book aims to change that. Based on dozens of interviews, it tells the story of Irish nurses in their own words. We hear from co-author of Irish Nurses in the NHS: and Oral History, Professor Louise Ryan, who spent years researching Irish migration. And from Ethel Corduff, who grew up in Tralee before coming to England to train as a nurse, a career she spent 40 years in.” Women's Hour
Image: Louise Ryan and Ethel Corduff