Revolutionary Ireland

Join Lorcan Collins for am intimate conversation with Laurence McKeown, IRA Prisoner of War, Long Kesh Blanket Man, Hunger Striker, Poet, Playright and Film Maker.

Join Lorcan Collins and a multitude of guests for part two of the podcast on Mike Quill the IRA Volunteer who founded the Transport Workers Union of America in 1934.

Join Lorcan Collins as he examines the life of Kerry IRA Volunteer Mike Quill who emigrated to the United States and founded the Transport Workers Union of America.

Part two of the podcast on the Fenian, revolutionary and signatory of the 1916 Proclamation, Tom Clarke.

Join Lorcan Collins as he examines the life of Thomas James Clarke, revolutionary, Fenian, signatory of the Proclamation and mastermind of the 1916 Easter Rising.

Final Chapters in Glimpses of an Irish Felon's Prison Life by Thomas Clarke.

Part two of a reading of Thomas J Clarke's Glimpses Of An Irish Felon's Prison Life in preparation for a forthcoming episode of the Revolutionary Ireland Podcast on the life of Tom Clarke. This episode covers charpers four, five, six and seven. More to follow!

A reading of Thomas J Clarke's Glimpses Of An Irish Felon's Prison Life in preparation for a forthcoming episode of the Revolutionary Ireland Podcast on the life of Tom Clarke. This episode covers charpers one, two and three. More to follow!

Noraid was the organisation that raised money and awareness in the United States about the ongoing situation in the Six Counties in Ireland. This episode includes an interview with Robert Collins who is the author of a recently published book on Noraid. Join Lorcan Collins as he examines Noraid between 1970 and 1994.

Part two of the life of Thomas MacDonagh, poet, teacher, dramatist, writer, Irish language enthusiast, commandant of Jacobs Factory and executed on 3 May 1916 for his role in the Easter Rising.

Part one of the life of Thomas MacDonagh, teacher, poet, writer, Irish language enthusiast, Signatory of the 1916 Proclamation and executed for his role in the Easter Rising of 1916.

In this episode Lorcan Collins examines the extraordinary life of Máire Comerford. Lorcan conducts an interview with Hilary Dully who has recently edited a memoir written by Máire.

Join Lorcan Collins in this 34th episode of the Revolutionary Ireland Podcast as he looks at the handover of Dublin Castle in 1922. Lorcan interviews Dr. John Gibney, co-author with Kate O'Malley of a new book on the subject, The Handover.

Join Lorcan Collins for episode 33 of the Revolutionary Ireland Podcast, Part 2 of the Seán South podcast. Lorcan discusses Operation Harvest and interviews the family of Fergal O'Hanlon who was killed in action alongside Seán South on New Years Day 1957 during Operation Harvest when the IRA attacked Brookeborough RUC Barracks in Fermanagh, Ireland.

Join Lorcan Collins for episode 32 of the Revolutionary Ireland Podcast as he examines the life of Seán South, the Limerick IRA Volunteer killed in action on New Years Day 1957 when he and his comrades attacked an RUC Barracks in Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Ireland as part of Operation Harvest. This is a two part episode and in part one Lorcan interviews his Father Dermot Collins about the FC...

In this episode Lorcan Collins reads the diary of an eyewitness to the events of Easter Week 1916. Lillian Stokes was living on Raglan Road in Dublin and wrote a detailed diary about everything she heard and saw during the 1916 Rising. Her evocative account is very well written and adds much to the story of 1916.

Join Lorcan Collins as he discusses the Massacre at Ballyseedy on the 7 March 1923 when nine IRA prisoners were tied around a Free State mine and blown up. One man survived to tell the tale. In this episode Lorcan also deals with the Countess Bridge mine and the Caherciveen mine too when the Free State carried out more extra-judicial executions. 

Join Lorcan Collins for the final part of the Blanket Protest, this episode covers the 1981 Hunger Strikes led by Bobby Sands in which ten IRA and INLA Volunteers died in Long Kesh Prison (The H-Blocks). Lorcan is joined by Laurence McKeown who spent 70 days on his hunger strike and Gerry Adams who knew Bobby Sands. Music at the end, Bobby Sands Rhythm of Time by kind permission of Damien Dempsey....

In this episode, Lorcan Collins examines the escalation of the Blanket and No Wash Protest in Long Kesh (H-Blocks) into the Irish Republican Hunger Strikes of 1980 and 1981. This is part one which deals specifically with the 1980 Hunger Strikes in which no protestor died. In this episode Lorcan also examines the life of Bobby Sands who leads the next Hunger Strike in 1981 which will be discussed i...

In this episode Lorcan Collins is joined by Blanketmen Séanna Walsh and Laurence McKeown. From 1978 the Blanket Protest escalated into the refusal to slop out and the No Wash protest. Lorcan Collins examines the reasons behind this escalation which led to Republican prisoners smearing excrement on their cell walls leading to international attention focusing on the Blanket Protest. This episode cov...

In 1976 Ciaran Nugent became the first man to refuse to wear the prison uniform when Political Status was removed from Republican and Loyalist prisoners. Ciaran and hundreds of prisoners who came after him wore nothing but the prison blanket. Lorcan Collins examines the history of the five year battle for POW Status for IRA and INLA prisoners in Long Kesh Prison. Special guests are Blanketmen Chop...

In this episode Lorcan Collins is joined by Mícheál Ó Doibhilín, Liz Gillis and Las Fallon, the organisers of the Burning of the Custom House Centenary Conference. The Custom House in Dublin was set on fire on 25 May 1921 and contributed to the declaration of a Truce between the British forces in Ireland and the IRA. Discover who planned the operation and how the Dublin Fire Brigade helped to fan...

Join Lorcan Collins in the second part of the life of Patrick Henry Pearse from 1908 with the foundation of his schools St. Enda's to his execution in 1916. Guests in this episode are the biographer of Patrick Pearse Dr Ruan O'Donnell and the historian and curator of the Pearse Museum Brian Crowley. 

Join Lorcan Collins as he discusses the life of Patrick Pearse, the poet, teacher, language enthusiast, revolutionary and signatory of the 1916 Proclamation who was executed for his role in the Easter Rising. Guest appearance by the biographer of Willy Pearse and Irish language expert Dr Roisín Ní Ghairbhí.

Join Lorcan Collins for a discussion on the Battle of Clonmult in February 1921 when the East Cork Flying Column of the IRA were surrounded in a farmhouse. A fierce fight ensued in which five IRA Volunteers were killed. After the IRA surrendered seven of the prisoners were murdered at point blank range. Later two of the prisoners were officially executed. A total of 14 IRA Volunteers lost their li...