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 FCA. Seán South was a member of the FCA before he joined the IRA.

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 in the next episode, part two. Lorcan is joined here by Seanna Walsh who was Bobby Sands' great friend.

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 covers the years 1978 to 1980 just before the Hunger Strikes began.

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 Chopper McCotter and Laurence McKeown who endured a 70 day hunger strike in 1981. This is part one which deals with the period 1976 to 1978 when the No Wash Protest began.

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 the flames rather than douse them!

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 lives as a result of this one battle during the Tan War.

Join Lorcan Collins for part two of the story of the United Irishmen Rebellion of 1798. An analysis of the momentous year when the United Irishmen rose up against the oppressive system which kept Catholics and Presbyterians as third class citizens. The fighting was intense in Wicklow, Wexford, Carlow, Kildare, Antrim, Down and Dublin. Collins explains how Wolfe Tone brought the French again to Ireland only to be captured himself and sentenced to death.

Join Lorcan Collins as he discusses the background to the Rebellion of the United Irishmen of 1798. A host of Irish revolutionaries and international figures are introduced in this, part one of two shows, where you will hear about Theobald Wolfe Tone, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Samuel Nielson, William Drennan, Thomas Russell, James Napper Tandy, William Orr, Cornwallis, Napoleon Bonaparte, Gereral Hoche, Betsy Gray, Henry Joy McCracken, George Washington, King George the Third,  and many more besides! Hear how the French Revolution of 1789 and the Declaration of American Independence encouraged the United Irishmen to rise up. Hear how the French sent ships and troops to aid the Irish revolutionaries.

The Ambush of Kilmichael is the subject of this podcast episode. Lorcan Collins is joined by Joe Connell. Music at the end by Pol MacAdaim.

Join Lorcan Collins for a discussion on the events of Bloody Sunday the 21 of November 1920 when Michael Collins and the IRA killed 15 British spies, agents and informers. In retaliation British forces charged in Croke Park football stadium and killed 14 civilians. Later that day the British tortured and murdered Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy and Conor Clune in Dublin Castle. The events of this incredible day are examined and explained in a concise fashion.

Join Lorcan Collins as he examines the hunger strike of Terence MacSwiney who died in Brixton Prison, London, after a 74 day protest on the 25th October 1920. MacSwiney was the Sinn Féin Mayor of Cork City and the Commandant of the Cork IRA Number One Brigade when he was arrested by the British Army in Cork City Hall. This podcast also examines the cases of Mick Fitzgerald and Joseph Murphy who also died  on Hunger Strike in Cork Jail in October 1920.

Join Lorcan Collins for an episode on the life of Michael Joseph O'Rahilly, known as The O'Rahilly who was killed leading a charge against a British machine gun on Moore Street in Dublin during teh Easter Rising of 1916 in Ireland. The O'Rahilly was the Director of Arms for the Irish Volunteers and drove around Ireland cancelling the 1916 Rising only to join in when he discovered it was going ahead. 

Join Lorcan Collins as he traces the history of the infamous Black and Tans and their reign of terror during the fight for Irish Freedom in 1920/21. Topics include the Sack of Balbriggan, Bloody Sunday and Clonmult. 

Join Lorcan Collins as he recounts the story of how the IRA purchased the first Thompson Sub Machine guns in America and how that iconic weapon was intertwined with the fight for Irish freedom. 

Join Lorcan Collins as he talks about the 16 men who were executed for their role in the Easter Rising of 1916. The executions of these leaders awakened a generation to the cause of Irish freedom. 

Jimmy Gralton was deported from Leitrim, Ireland in 1933 after a campaign against him orchestrated by the Catholic Church. In this episode Lorcan Collins examines the reasons why an IRA Volunteer ended up being banished from the country of his birth. Special guest Donal Fallon.

Join Lorcan Collins for part two of the podcast on James Connolly, detailing his life from his return to Ireland from the United States in 1910 to his eventual execution on 12 May 1916 in Kilmainham Gaol.

Join Lorcan Collins for a podcast on the revolutionary socialist republican James Connolly who was wounded during the Easter Rising in 1916 and executed in Kilmainham Gaol. In Part One Lorcan traces Connolly's life, examining his early years in Scotland, how he joined the British Army, his family life in Ireland and his emigration to the United States in 1903 culminating with his return to Dublin in 1910.

Join Lorcan Collins for a short podcast on the shooting of Cork's Lord Mayor Tómas MacCurtain in March 1920. The IRA take their revenge on District Inspector Swanzy, the RIC man who was one of the killers. This in turn has repercussions for the people of Lisburn and Belfast in August 1920.

Join Lorcan Collins for a short podcast as he discusses the RIC (Irish Police) mutiny in Co. Kerry in June 1920 led by Constable Jeremiah Mee followed by the shooting of Lieutenant Colonel Smith by the IRA in July 1920.

In this episode Lorcan Collins speaks with Dr Conor McNamara about the mutiny of Irish (and some English) soldiers in the British Army who were stationed in India. The mutiny began at teh end of June 1920 when the Black and Tans were rampaging around Ireland. When word got to India about what what happening in Ireland the soldiers of the Connaught Rangers downed arms and refused to serve the King with deadly consequences. 

In this episode Lorcan Collins discussed the role of women in the Irish revolutionary period from 1916 to 1923. Lorcan interviews teh author and historian Liz Gillis.

Join Lorcan Collins as he discusses the events surrounding the execution of young Kevin Barry an IRA Volunteer who was hanged in Mountjoy Jail, Dublin, Ireland on 1 November 1920

Lorcan Collins discusses the history of the 1916 Proclamation, who wrote it and how it was printed. A special goes, Cuan Ó Seireadáin explains the Irish language aspect of Ireland's most iconic and historical document.

Sinn Féin scored a massive victory in the December 1918 General Election in Ireland. In this episode Lorcan Collins is joined by Donal Fallon to discuss the factors that led to the rise in popularity of radical republican ideology in Ireland in the aftermath of the Easter Rising.

Events of 1916 Rising Ireland. In the previous episode we looked at the build up to the Easter Rising and this week Lorcan Collins examines the events during that momentous week in Ireland in 1916.

From 1798 to 1916