The Irish History Show

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the Penal Laws in Ireland. The Penal Laws were a series of legal disabilities imposed in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries on the kingdom’s Roman Catholic majority and, to a lesser degree, on Protestant “Dissenters”. Enacted by the Irish Parliament, they secured the Protestant Ascendancy by further concentrating...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we were joined by Gerard Shannon to discuss his new  biography  of Rory O’Connor. Rory O’Connor was an Irish Republican who was Director of Engineering for the IRA in the Irish War of Independence. O’Connor opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and was chairman of the Republican military council that became the Anti-Treaty IRA in March 1...

On this episode of the Irish History Show, John was joined by Tomás MacConmara to discuss his book  Days of Hunger, the Clare Volunteers and the Mountjoy Hunger strike of 1917. The book deals with the events of 1917 culminating in the death of Volunteer leader Thomas Ashe after force feeding while on hunger strike. MacConmara argues that the events of 1917, in particular the death of Ashe, crystal...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we spoke to Dr. Spencer Jones about the Boer War. The Boer War, also known as the Second Boer War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. The war resulted in the British annexation of the Boer Republics and the creation of the Union of South Afric...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we spoke to Colonel Gareth Prendergast about his new book, Clear, Hold, Build: How the Free State won the Irish Civil War. He discussed how the National Army defeated the Anti – Treaty IRA using the counter – insurgency tactics of clear, hold and build. Dr Gareth Prendergast is a serving Colonel in the Irish Defence Forces with over 30 years’ s...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we spoke to Professor Neil Davison and Vincent Altman O’Connor about the Irish – Jewish politician Albert L. Altman. We explored the idea that Altman is a possible inspiration for Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Professor Neil Davison is a member of the faculty of the School of Writing, Literature and Film at Oreg...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the Economic War, also known as the Anglo – Irish Trade War. It lasted from 1932 to 1938. When Fianna Fáil were first elected to government in 1932 they refused to continue paying the Land Annuities to the British government. This led to a series of retaliatory tariffs from both governments. The Fianna Fáil government used the dispute as...

On this episode off the Irish History Show, we spoke to Dr. Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc about his new book Burn them out! A history of Fascism and the Far Right in Ireland. Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc is an historian from Clare who has a BA in Archaeology from University College Dublin and a PhD in History from the University of Limerick. He has published eight books. We have started a Patreon page for The Irish...

On this episode off the Irish History Show, we covered part three of our series on the history of Irish elections. We looked at municipal elections and the reforms of Thomas Drummond, the British Under – Secretary for Ireland. We looked at the evolution of party politics in Ireland in the 19th century and the unionist / nationalist divide. We also looked at the impact of the Reforms Acts and...

On this episode off the Irish History Show, we covered part two of our series on the history of Irish elections. We looked at the Protestant Ascendency in the 18th century and the Penal Laws. The contentious 1713 General Election and the riots that took place in Dublin and how the Irish Parliament lagged behind Westminster in terms of electoral reform. We looked at party politics in Ireland, the g...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we looked at the history of elections in Ireland. Parliament in Medieval Ireland was an event rather than an institution. The earliest known parliament was held in Castledermot in County Kildare and over the years parliament met in different towns and cities throughout the Anglo – Norman Lordship of Ireland. We looked at how these parliaments were el...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we have combined five episodes of a podcast series we made for Timeline Research Ltd. about tracing your Irish ancestors. The series covered topics such as finding out information on relatives who fought in the First World War, housing, using the census and tax returns to make your family tree and how to use and access different archives and online resourc...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we looked at the Birmingham Pub Bombings of the 21st of November 1974 and the long campaign for justice for the six men who were wrongfully convicted of these killings. To discuss the Birmingham Six we were joined by two special guests. Chris Mullin is an author, journalist and diarist and, from 1987 to 2010, he was the Labour Party MP for Sunderland South...

On this episode of the show we looked at the McMahon murders. The murders occurred on 24 March 1922 when six Catholic civilians were shot dead at the home of the McMahon family in Belfast. The victims were businessman Owen McMahon, four of his sons, and one of his employees. Two others were shot but survived, and a female family member was assaulted. Owen McMahon (50), Gerard McMahon (15), Frank M...

On this episode of the show we were joined by Dr. Aidan Beatty to discuss his new book The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism published by Pluto Press. Gerry Healy was the Galway born leader of the Socialist Labour League and the Workers Revolutionary Party. He was a key figure in Trotskyism and one of the most controversial leaders on the British left. H...

We have reached a very special milestone on the Irish History Show as this is our 100th episode! We discussed setting up the show and how it has evolved over the years. Our thanks to Near FM for originally broadcasting the show and our special thanks to all the amazing guests we’ve had over the years. We remember our favourite episodes and subjects we’ve returned to time and again. Mos...

On this episode of the show, we discussed the Irish Civil War Fatalities Project. The Irish Civil War Fatalities Project, supported with funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, seeks to identify all of the conflict-related fatalities in Ireland between the opening shots of the Civil War on 28 June 1922 and the ceasefire and dump arms order on 24...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we looked at the Plantation of Ulster. The Plantation was the colonisation of Ireland’s northern province of Ulster by people from Britain during the reign of James VI and I. The official plantation began in 1609 in six of Ulster’s nine counties, Donegal, Coleraine, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh and Cavan. Lands in counties Antrim, Down and Monagha...

The Nine Year War in Ireland took place in Ireland from 1593 to 1603. The rebellion was led by Hugh O’Neill and Red Hugh O’Donnell and was a response to the Tudor Conquest in Ireland. The rebellion began in Ulster but eventually spread throughout the whole country. There were some significant Irish victories such as Clontibret and Yellow Ford but the Battle of Kinsale saw the English w...

The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 in the Irish province of Munster. They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond, the head of the FitzGerald dynasty in Munster, and his followers, the Geraldines and their allies, against the threat of the extension of the English government over the province. The rebellions were motivated primarily by the desire to maintain the independence...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the 1923 General Election in the Irish Free State. The election for the fourth Dáil was held on the 27th of August 1923. It was the first general election held since the establishment of the Irish Free State on the 6th of December 1922. The election was held in aftermath of the Irish Civil War, which had only ended a few short months before. U...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the Irish Army Mutiny of 1924. In March 1924 about 50 officers of the Free State’s National Army, who were set to be demobilised in the post- Civil War reduction of the Army, seized weapons and abandoned their posts. Led by erstwhile Army Director of Intelligence Liam Tobin and Charles Dalton, they delivered an ultimatum to the government, dem...

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the Civil War in Kerry. We discussed Kerry during the War of Independence and the situation in the county at the time of the Truce, the reaction to the Anglo – Irish Treaty by the Republican movement and how the Civil War progressed in the county. We covered the atrocities that were carried out in Kerry during the Civil War and the perso...

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. G...

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 Th...