69 Croke Park and Bloody Sunday

On this episode of the show we were joined by Michael Foley to discuss his book, The Bloodied Field, about the events in Croke Park on the 21st of November 1920. That day would become known as Bloody Sunday. On that morning, the IRA killed or mortally wounded 16 people in a co – ordinated series of assassinations directed against British intelligence officers in Dublin.

That afternoon Dublin were due to play Tipperary in a challenge match in Croke Park. British troops, the Royal Irish Constabulary and Auxiliaries surrounded the ground. Crown forces began shooting into the stadium and 14 civilians were killed, including Tipperary player Michael Hogan.

Michael Foley is a sportswriter for the Irish edition of The Sunday Times. He is a three-time GAA McNamee award-winner and winner of the 2007 BoyleSports Irish Sports Book of the Year. Michael has been nominated three times as Irish Sports Journalist of the Year.  He is a member of the GAA’s history committee and is involved in the GAA’s commemoration of Bloody Sunday. Michael’s book, The Bloodied Field, has been re-released by O’Brien Books in a special updated 100th anniversary edition.

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68 Mick O’Reilly

On this episode of the show we were joined by Mick O’Reilly. Mick’s recently published autobiography ‘From Lucifer to Lazarus – A life on the left,’ is now available.

Mick talked about his lifetime of activism as a socialist and trade union official.

Intro / Outro music “Sliabh” from Aislinn. Licensed under creative commons from the free music archive.

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67 Irish republicanism, anti-Semitism and the post-war world

On this episode of the show we were joined by Dr. Brian Hanley to discuss his recent article for Irish Historical Studies entitled ‘The Irish and the Jews have a good deal in common’: Irish republicanism, anti-Semitism and the post-war world.

In the episode we discuss the Irish Jewish Community, casual anti – Semitism in Ireland in this period, Irish republican attitudes towards Jews, the relationship between Jews and Irish republicanism outside Ireland and British and unionist conspiracy theories regarding Jewish influence over events happening in Ireland at the time.

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66 The Disappeared of the Irish Revolution

On this episode of the show Dr. Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc talks about ‘The Disappeared’ who were killed and secretly buried during the Irish Revolutionary Period.

This is the fruit of a research project carried out by Pádraig himself and Andy Bielenberg of University College Cork into forcible disappearances during the Irish revolution.

Pádraig has previously written extensively on the killing of alleged informers by the IRA and Andy Beilenberg has compiled a register of fatalities in County Cork from 1919-1921.

By their figures 108 people were killed and their bodies disposed of in secret by the IRA and seven by British forces. This is a far larger figure than the sixteen people ‘disappeared’ during the Northern Ireland conflict in the 1970s  and 80s, whose recovery remains a political issue today.

We discuss:

  • Why some victims of political violence were ‘disappeared’
  • Why County Cork accounted for a disproportionate number of the disappeared people.
  • Why the practice was relatively common in the War of Independence but not a feature of the Civil War.
  • How reliable oral traditions and rumours are as to the presence of these unmarked graves.

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65 Ireland and World War II

On this episode of the Irish History Show, John Dorney interviewed Dr. Joseph Quinn about Ireland’s role in World War 2. They discussed:

  • Why Ireland remained neutral
  • How successive British governments made offers of Irish unity in return for the use of Ireland’s Atlantic ports during the war and why these offers were ultimately rejected.
  • In what numbers Irishmen and women served in Allied forces and other Irish aid to the allied powers, notably in naval intelligence.
  • The prospects for the invasion of neutral Ireland by one or more of the belligerents.
  • Ireland’s uneasy relationship with the United States during the war.
  • Éamon de Valera’s infamous condolences to German ambassador Hempel on the death of Adolf Hitler.

Dr. Joseph Quinn is a Second World War Research Associate at the UK National Archives and secretary and co – founder of the Irish Military Heritage Foundation.

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64 Paddy Cullivan

On this episode of the Irish History Show we were joined by Paddy Cullivan. You may know Paddy from the Camembert Quartet, the Late Late Show, Callan’s Kicks, the Leviathan Political Cabaret and Kilkenomics.  Paddy’s historical live shows, 10 Dark Secrets of the Irish Revolution and 10 Dark Secrets of 1798 have toured all over Ireland and been a huge success.

We discussed the public’s engagement with history, his live shows, history as entertainment and how we commemorate historical events.

https://www.paddycullivan.com/

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63 Irish Election Literature & Small Irish Parties

On this episode of the show we were joined by Alan Kinsella of the Irish Election Literature Blog. Alan talked about how he began collecting material relating to elections and referenda as a child and how this led to a lifetime of accumulating Irish political ephemera.

Alan also discussed his new podcast “The Others” dealing with small political parties and single issue campaigns over the years.

We also discussed some of the more unusual candidates and parties that have graced the Irish political landscape.

https://irishelectionliterature.com/

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62 Bram Stoker and the Sligo Cholera Epidemic of 1832

On this episode we were joined by Dr. Marion McGarry and Dr. Fiona Gallagher to discuss the Sligo Cholera Epidemic of 1832 and how this inspired Dracula.

Sligo was the worst effected town in Britain and Ireland by the Cholera epidemic of 1832. The town was devastated by the outbreak. A young Charlotte Thornley lived through the events in Sligo and would later regale her son, Bram Stoker, with tales of live burials and the undead.

Marion and Fiona explain what happened in Sligo during the epidemic and the effects it had on the town. They also go through the parallels in Dracula with the events in Sligo at that time.

Was Stoker inspired by the mythology of Eastern Europe when he created Dracula or did the Sligo Cholera epidemic, and Stoker’s interest in Irish folklore, provide the basis for the vampire count?

More articles on the subjects covered in the podcast can be found at Marion and Fiona’s blogs:

https://www.drmarionmcgarry.com/

https://www.drfionagallagher.com/

https://sligobramstoker.weebly.com/

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61 Tartan Gangs & The Red Hand Commando

On this episode of the show, we were joined by Dr. Gareth Mulvenna to discuss his research into the Tartan Gangs, the Red Hand Commando and his upcoming biography of the PUP’s Billy Hutchinson. Gareth is the author of Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries: The Loyalist Backlash.

His podcast, Hidden Histories of the Northern Ireland Troubles, is available on most podcast platforms and his blog is available here:
https://gmulvenna.wordpress.com/

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60 The 1641 Rebellion

On this episode of the show, we look at the 1641 Rebellion in Ireland. The Rebellion broke out in October of 1641 and would begin a conflict that would last for the next eleven years. The events in Ireland would form part of the War of the Three Kingdoms and were brought to a close by Oliver Cromwell’s conquest of Ireland with his New Model Army.

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