92 Liam Lynch

On this episode of the Irish History Show we were joined by Gerard Shannon to discuss his new biography of Liam Lynch.

During the War of Independence, Liam Lynch was the officer in command of the Cork No. 2 Brigade of the IRA and later commander of the First Southern Division. He opposed the Anglo – Irish Treaty and during the Civil War he was Chief of Staff of the Anti – Treaty IRA.

Gerard Shannon is a historian from Skerries in Co. Dublin. In 2019 he wrote his MA thesis, for the School of History and Geography in Dublin City University, on Liam Lynch. Gerard has also written numerous articles for the Irish Story website.

We have recently started a Patreon page for The Irish Story website and The Irish History Show. Please follow the link and your support is greatly appreciated. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=29204818

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91 Land and Revolution

On this episode of the Irish History Show, John Dorney was joined by Dr. Terry Dunne to discuss the land question and agrarian radicalism during the revolutionary period.

Dr. Terry Dunne is a sociologist and historian and was Laois County Historian in Residence in 2021 and 2022. He is the host of the Peelers and Sheep podcast which is available here.

We have recently started a Patreon page for The Irish Story website and The Irish History Show. Please follow the link and your support is greatly appreciated. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=29204818

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90 Irish Civil War Executions

On this episode of the Irish History Show we looked at executions carried out by the Free State government during the Irish Civil War.

The executions were made possible by legislation known as the Public Safety Bill, which was passed in the Dail on September 27, 1922. The emergency legislation gave to the National Army powers of punishment for anyone ‘taking part in or aiding and abetting attacks on the National Forces’, having possession of arms or explosives ‘without the proper authority’ or disobeying an Army General Order.

Military Courts could impose the sentence of death, imprisonment or penal servitude on those found to be guilty of such offences.

The Provisional Government, which was in place only to enact the Treaty and oversee the handover from the British administration to the Irish Free State, technically had no legal right to enact new legislation without assent of the Governor General, but this post had yet to be filled. Indeed, the Free State itself did not formally exist until December 7, 1922.

So, the Public Safety Bill was technically not a law but simply a resolution passed in the Dáil. It was not until August 1923 that the Free State would pass an Act of Indemnity for all actions committed during the Civil War and also passed new, formal legislation that it would retrospectively legalise what it had enacted in 1922.

John Dorney wrote an article on the executions for the Irish Story which is available here.

We have recently started a Patreon page for The Irish Story website and The Irish History Show. Please follow the link and your support is greatly appreciated. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=29204818

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89 Commemorating the Irish Civil War

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the current commemorations of the Irish Civil War and how it is being remembered 100 years on. We covered:

  • How the  Irish Civil War is being commemorated (or not) 100 years on.
  • How the conflict is interpreted today – democrats vs dictators or the unfinished revolution?
  • The enduring mythology surrounding Michael Collins
  • The difficulty in commemorating 1922 in an all-Ireland context
  • How atrocities of that era can be remembered today.

We have recently started a Patreon page for The Irish Story website and The Irish History Show. Please follow the link and your support is greatly appreciated. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=29204818

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88 Ireland and Ukraine

In the wake of the February 24, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, much attention has focused on the history of Ukraine. Nadia Dobrianska is a Ukrainian lawyer  and human rights activist as well as a scholar of modern Irish history. She is also currently (August 2022) a refugee in Ireland, fleeing war in Ukraine.

Here we talk about the history of Ukraine and the parallels (and many differences) with Irish history.

Both countries have an important Viking medieval past.

Both were largely peasant nations, in which religion and language intertwined in traditional identity.

Both experienced Wars of Independence in the wake of the First World War, though in Ukraine’s case unsuccessful.

Both experienced catastrophic famines that are also remembered in part as attempts to exterminate the nation.

We have recently started a Patreon page for The Irish Story website and The Irish History Show. Please follow the link and your support is greatly appreciated. https://www.patreon.com/user?u=29204818

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87 The Civil War Memory Project

On this episode of the Irish History Show, John Dorney was joined by Dr. Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh to discuss the Civil War Memory Project, an oral history project in association with the National Folklore Collection (UCD), RTÉ and Scratch Films.

For many years the Irish Civil War of 1922-23 was a taboo topic in Ireland, rarely raised in public, except in a partisan manner.

Now 100 years on a project is underway to collect family and local memories of the conflict to recover how it was remembered at the local and family level.

The National Folklore collection is mounting a major project to collect such memories and these will also be recorded in a documentary, currently in production by Scratch films.

Those who are interested in the project and who wish to contribute can contact the National Folklore Collection at bealoideas@ucd.ie or Scratch films at history@scratchfilms.com


Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh is an Archivist for the National Folklore Collection at University College Dublin. His research interests are vernacular architecture, traditional boats and fishing, the cultural landscape (especially those of Atlantic island communities), as well as folk drama and oral literature. He is joint editor of New Survey of Clare Island: v. 1: History and Cultural Landscape (1999).

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86 The Irish American Mob

On this episode of the Irish History Show John Dorney was joined by John Joe McGinley to discuss the Irish American Mob and orgainised crime from the 19th century onwards.

We speak about: the early gangs from the influx of Irish immigration after the Great Famine.

The Prohibition era when many Irish gangsters made fortunes and also their conflict with Italian crime organisations.

Famous Irish American criminals such as Vincent ‘Mad Dog’ Coll and Owney Madden.

The relationship of the ‘Irish mob’ with the broader Irish American community.

Later Irish gangs such as the ‘Westies’.

The demise of organised crime in the era of the RICO Act.

John Joe McGinley is a Donegal historian and a regular contributor to the Irish Story, Irish Central and Ireland’s Own. His book Irish Wise Guys is available here.

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85 Ian Paisley

On this episode of the Irish History Show we were joined by journalist and author Ed Moloney to discuss the life of Ian Paisley.

Reverend Ian Paisley was the founder of the Free Presbyterian Church and the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party from 1971 to 2008. In 2007 he became the First Minister of Northern Ireland.

We discussed Paisley’s rise to prominence in Northern Ireland during the 1960s; the political and religious traditions he came from; his American influences; his opposition to ecumenism, liberalism and the Civil Rights Movement; his relationship with Loyalist paramilitaries; his longevity and popularity in Northern Irish politics; power sharing with Sinn Féin, and the end of his leadership of both the DUP and the Free Presbyterian Church.

Ed Moloney is the former Northern Editor of both the Irish Times and the Sunday Tribune. He has published work in a variety of newspapers and magazines in Ireland, the UK, and the United States, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, The Economist, The Independent, The Guardian and The New Statesman.

Moloney is the author of three books dealing with aspects of the Irish Troubles,  A Secret History of the IRA (2007), Paisley: From Demagogue to Democrat? (2008) and Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland (2010). He has also helped to produce documentaries for the BBC, Channel Four, London Weekend Television and a recent RTÉ documentary, Voices From the Grave, which was based on his book and was shortlisted for best documentary prize by the Irish Film and Television Academy.

Ed Moloney’s website is available here.

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84 Irish Army Deserters during World War 2

On this episode of the Irish History Show we were joined by Cían Harte to discuss Irish Army deserters during the Second World War.

When the Second World War began the Irish government declared neutrality. As many neutral European nations were to find out, neutrality was no guarantee to avoiding invasion.

In the episode we discussed the state of the Irish Defence Forces at the outbreak of war; the massive recruitment campaigns undertaken by the state forces; the conditions and morale of soldiers; reasons for desertion; serving soldiers deserting and joining the British military and the repercussions for these deserters after the war.

Cían Harte is an historian, a serving officer in the Irish Defence Forces and self-published author of works such as ‘Heroes Or Traitors? Irish Deserters of WWII’, ‘Soldiers of Sligo’ & ‘The Lost Tales: Riverstown’s Great War, 1914-1918’ among others.

https://www.cianhartehistorian.com/

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83 The IRA in Dublin during the War of Independence

On this episode of the Irish History Show we were joined by Liz Gillis and James Brady to discuss the IRA in Dublin during the War of Independence.

Liz Gillis is an historian and researcher on RTE’s History Show. She is the author of seven books covering the Irish Revolutionary period 1916-23 including ‘Ireland Over All’, ‘The Fall of Dublin’, ‘Revolution in Dublin’, ‘Women of the Irish Revolution’, ‘The Hales Brothers and the Irish Revolution’, ‘May 25: The Burning of the Custom House 1921’ and co-author of ‘Richmond Barracks We Were There: 77 Women of the Easter Rising’.

James Brady is a local historian of republicanism in south County Dublin. His book ‘With the Sixth Battalion, South County Dublin and the War for Independence 1916-21’, was published in 2020 by Litter Press, Wexford.

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