The Irish History Show

On this episode of the Irish History Show we were joined by Dr. Eoin O’Malley to discuss his new book, Charlie vs. Garret – The rivalry that shaped modern Ireland. In the 1980s, Irish politics was dominated by Charlie Haughey’s Fianna Fáil and Garret Fitzgerald’s Fine Gael.

The 1980s in Ireland was a period of high unemployment, emmigration and deep structural problems within the economy, while the violence of the Troubles continued to destabilise the country.

In this episode we discussed the early lives and family backgrounds of both men; their entry into politics; their ministerial careers and their leaderships of their respective political parties.

We also compared their leaderships under three areas; the economy, the North of Ireland, and social issues and the various campaigns to liberalise the economy.

Eoin O’Malley is an Associate Professor in political science at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University. There he teaches politics and public policy.

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

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

On this episode of the Irish History Show we returned to the subject of the Fenians. We traced the movement from the end of the 1867 Rebellion onwards. We covered such subjects as the Amnesty Campaign, the Catalpa rescue, the New Departure, splits in the American movement, the Land War and the growth of cultural nationalism in the 1880s and 1890s.

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

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

On this episode of the Irish History Show we discussed the Fenians. The Fenians  were Irish republican revolutionaries that sought to achieve the independence of Ireland from the British Empire in the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. The main Fenian organisations were the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood. In 1867, they attempted a rising in Ireland which was co-ordinated with raids into Canada from the United States. Although the rising failed, the IRB continued in existence and played a central part in the 1916 Easter Rising and the 1919–1921 Irish War of Independence which led to the establishment of the Irish Free State.

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

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

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 property and public office in the hands of those who, as communicants of the established Church of Ireland, subscribed to the Oath of Supremacy.

The laws were repealed through a series of relief acts beginning in 1771. The last significant disability, the requirement that Members of Parliament take the Oath of Supremacy, was removed in 1829, after Ireland had been incorporated by the 1800 Acts of Union into a United Kingdom with Great Britain.

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

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

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 1922. He was the main spokesman for the Republican side in the lead-up to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in June of that year. On 30 June, O’Connor was taken prisoner at the conclusion of the attack by Free State forces on the Four Courts in Dublin. On 8 December 1922, he was executed along with three other senior members of the IRA Four Courts garrison. All four men were executed without trial or court martial.

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. His biography of Lynch, Liam Lynch: To Declare a Republic, was published in 2023. 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

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