Irish Left Archive Podcast

In this episode we talk to academic and author Michael Flavin about his novel, One Small Step . Published by Vulpine Press, the novel tells the story of a young boy from a Northern Irish catholic background growing up in Birmingham in the 1970s and the impact of the 1974 Birmingham bombings. We discuss Michael’s own background, coming from an Irish family in Birmingham, which he drew on for the no...

In this episode we talk to Vincent Doherty. Vincent has been politically active since the early 1970s, having grown up in Derry during the Civil Rights marches and outbreak of the Troubles. He joined the Official Republican movement in 1972 and was involved in Derry until moving to England in 1973. There he was briefly involved in the Socialist Labour League (SLL) before joining the International...

In this episode we talk to Orla Egan and Megan Luddy O’Leary about their recently published book, Diary of an Activist , an illustrated memoir of social activism in the 1980s and 90s. The book draws on Orla’s experiences “journeying through vegetarianism, anti-nuclear and CND protests, feminist and queer activism, lesbian parties, coming out and becoming a parent”, and aims to bring to light and m...

This episode introduces a new project from Irish Election Literature and the Irish Left Archive. Snapshots of Political Action aims to bring together material distributed at individual demonstrations, marches, rallies and protests in Ireland, providing a view of the different political strands and groups that come together in campaigns. We’re joined by Alan Kinsella of Irish Election Literature —...

In this episode we speak to Pádraig Mannion. Pádraig has been a member of Official Sinn Féin and then The Workers’ Party since joining as a student in Galway in 1974, and has had several roles within the party, including on the Ard Comhairle / Central Executive Committee. He is also Secretary of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA). We discuss Pádraig’s background and early involvement in stud...

A quick update on the Irish Left Archive project and the podcast as we start back after a break with more interviews with activists on the left. We’ll be switching to putting out interview episodes once per month in future and hope to keep that rolling without the series gaps we’ve had before. As always, thanks to everyone who has been a guest on the podcast, made suggestions and contributed to th...

This episode is a quick round up of the current podcast series and future plans for the Irish Left Archive. Thanks to all of our guests so far, and to everyone who has listened, contributed material to our document collection, and got in touch with information and feedback. We appreciate all the contributions we receive - the accuracy of the information on our site about organisations, publication...

In this episode we’re joined by Charles Tuba to discuss the book Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary , by Robert White (Indiana University Press, 2006). The discussion looks at Ó Brádaigh’s strand of Republicanism, and in particular the policies of abstentionism and the Éire Nua policy outlining a federal Irish state. This is one of a series of episodes centred on...

In this episode we talk to Mags O’Brien about her political background; the divorce referendum campaigns of 1986 and 1995; her experience with the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in 2011 - which was captured at sea and the crew held in an Israeli jail - and subsequent Palestine solidarity work with Gaza Action Ireland; her work as a tutor with the SIPTU College and combining her activism and trade unioni...

In this episode we talk to Jason Brannigan. Jason is an anarchist activist in Belfast and member of the anarcho-syndicalist group Organise!, as well as being involved in Just Books, which encompasses a library of radical material, meeting space and education project. We discuss Jason’s background in Belfast, his involvement with Just Books and Organise! and the development of both since the 1990s,...

In this episode, to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, we’re joined by historian Dr. Brian Hanley to discuss the reaction in the Republic of Ireland to the events in Derry on 30th January 1972, when British soldiers opened fire on civil rights marchers, killing 14 and injuring several others. The reaction in the South saw walkouts and strikes, a national day of mourning, the burning of th...

In this episode we talk to Mark Fitzpatrick. Mark is an animal rights and vegan activist originally from Cork and now based in New Zealand, where he is on the board of the Vegan Society of Aotearoa . We discuss Mark’s politicisation in the anarcho-punk scene in Cork in the late 1980s, his involvement in hunt sabotage in Ireland and the UK, his perspective on the animal rights movement and its rela...

Our guest in this episode is Tony Novosel . Tony is a historian at the University of Pittsburgh and the author of Northern Ireland’s Lost Opportunity: The Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism (Pluto Press, 2013). Northern Ireland's Lost Opportunity: The Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism (Pluto Press, 2013) We discuss Tony’s own background and how meeting Irish people in the US in the ea...

Our guest in this episode is Jess Spear. Jess is an eco-socialist and socialist feminist activist based in Dublin. She is National Organiser of RISE , a revolutionary Marxist network of People Before Profit (PBP) . She is the editor of the eco-socialist quarterly magazine, Rupture , and co-authored the pamphlet What is eco-socialism? . She was a research scientist at the US Geological Survey and B...

In this episode, we talk to Aileen O’Carroll of the Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM) . Aileen first became politically active via Student Union and pro-choice politics, and joined the anarchist WSM in the early 1990s and remains a member, having been involved in several prominent campaigns. She is a trade union activist, and chaired the Maynooth branch of IFUT for three years and remains on the b...

In this episode we talk to Dr. Jack McGinley. Jack is the Principal of Umiskin Press - a not-for-profit publishing house focused particularly on labour and trade union history. He has been active in the Trade Union movement since joining the Workers’ Union of Ireland in the 1970s, which later formed part of SIPTU. Among other roles, he was on the National Executive Council of SIPTU for several yea...

In this episode we talk to Adrienne Wallace. Adrienne is an activist and local councillor for People Before Profit (PBP) . She has been active with PBP since the early 2010s and is the party organiser for the South East. She was elected to Carlow County Council in 2019. She also stood as a Dáil candidate in the 2015 Carlow/Kilkenny by-election and subsequent general elections, and in the South con...

In this episode we talk to Roger Cole . Roger has been involved in politics in Ireland since joining Labour as a student in the late 1960s. He was involved in the Liaison Committee of the Labour Left , and subsequently became General Secretary of the Socialist Labour Party (SLP) . After the SLP, he re-joined Labour and remained a member until leaving in recent years in response to their lack of su...

A quick update on the podcast and forthcoming episodes. We’ll be back with new episodes every fortnight from next Monday, and we have several activists lined up from across the Irish Left to talk to us about their experience of organising and campaigning. Thanks to everyone who has listened so far, and thanks to all our guests who have taken the time to talk to us! The Irish Left Archive Podcast l...

This is a quick round up on the current series of the podcast and plans for the future. We’ll be back with more guests in the early Autumn. Thanks again to everyone who has spoken to us so far. Also, thanks to those who have provided documents for inclusion in the Irish Left Archive over the years; they are all listed in the acknowledgements on our content submissions page . If you have any docume...

In this episode, we’re joined by Charles Tuba to discuss Seán Swan’s book, Official Irish Republicanism, 1962 to 1972 , and the issues it raises around changing views of Republicanism, and the period leading to and following the Republican split in 1969. The book was published in 2007, and listeners who haven’t read it will find a chapter available for free on the CAIN website . Before turning to...

In this episode we talk to Allan Armstrong. Allan has been an activist on the Left in Scotland since the late 1960s. He was a member of the International Socialists (later the Socialist Workers’ Party) during the 1970s and was a convenor of Scottish Rank & File Teachers, leaving the SWP when it sought to dissolve the latter group. As a part of the Red Republicans, he was involved in the founda...

In this episode we talk to Lynda Walker. Lynda has been a political activist in Belfast since moving there from her native Sheffield in 1969. She is a long-standing member of the Communist Party of Ireland , and served as National Chairperson of the party from 2006 to 2017. She was active in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association , and was instrumental in founding the Northern Ireland Women...

In this episode we talk to Terry Dunne. As an activist, Terry has been involved in anarchist groups, and the anti-war, environmental and social justice movements. Terry has a PhD in sociology and an interest in the historical sociology of social movements. He has written particularly on agrarian social movements, and his work has been published in journals such as Saothar, Critical Historical Stud...

In this episode we talk to Ciara Galvin . Ciara is a Labour party councillor in Kildare for the Celbridge Local Electoral Area. She has been a member of Labour since 2010, and was involved in Labour Youth, serving as Trade Union Co-ordinator. She was elected to Kildare County Council in the 2019 local elections. Outside her local council role, Ciara works for SIPTU in the Workers’ Rights Centre. W...