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In this episode we talk to John Fay about Newshound. John set up Newshound in 1996, after moving from the U.S.A. to Ireland, as a daily curated source of news on the North and the development of the peace process. It later became part of Irish-American news site, Irish Central, and ran daily until 2018. We discuss the founding of Newshound and its growth in the early days of the web; its reception in the media and political spheres; interactions with journalists and users; and the role of a project of its kind as the web developed over the years of its existence. While no longer online, you can find the Newshound site on Archive.org’s Wayback Machine.

In this episode we talk to Eugene McCartan. Originally from Co. Down, Eugene has been an activist with the Communist Party of Ireland since joining in Dublin in 1974. He served as the party’s Chairperson from 1989 to 2001 and then General Secretary until his retirement from that role in 2023. We discuss Eugene’s background and joining the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI); the short-lived Left Alliance between the CPI, Workers’ Party and Liaison Committee of the Labour Left around that time; the history of the Communist Party of Ireland and its development since the 1920s – through key periods of the conflict in the North, the tensions in organising North and South, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and subsequent organising; the CPI’s positions on Imperialism and Republicanism; and the contemporary international conflict and political position.

In this episode we’re joined again by Charles Tuba for a discussion of Jack Holland and Henry McDonald’s book, INLA: Deadly Divisions, which tells the story of the origins and development of the INLA. Charles has joined us previously to discuss Seán Swan’s Official Irish Republicanism in episode 25 and Robert White’s biography of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh in episode 38. The writing of Seamus Costello is available here.

This episode is a round up of the Irish Left Archive project in 2025 and answers to some listener questions. Thanks as always to everyone who has supported and engaged with the archive by sending documents, speaking on the podcast, emailing, commenting, and using the site. Thanks also to the editorial team of Saothar, the journal of the Irish Labour History Society, for including an article on the Irish Left Archive in their 50th anniversary edition, Saothar 50. More to come in 2026!

In this episode we talk to Madeleine Johansson of Red Network. Madeleine moved from Sweden to Ireland in the 2000s where she became active with the Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) and People Before Profit (PBP). She was a party organiser and director of elections for the 2016 General Election campaign in Dublin Mid-West, subsequently co-opted on to South Dublin County Council in 2016, and returned in the 2019 and 2024 local elections. Madeleine was a founding member of Red Network, which was formed in 2021 within People Before Profit before becoming an independent party in 2025. She is the author of Class War – Not Culture War (2025) and Reform or Revolution – Sweden, Socialism and The Welfare State (2022), available from the Red Network website. We discuss Madeleine’s early political experience and the contrast between Sweden and Ireland; her work as an activist and organiser with SWP during the austerity years and campaigns against household charges, property tax and water charges; her experience as a local councillor and the particular challenge of the housing crisis; the formation of Red Network and the political differences that led them to leave People Before Profit; and her position on the politics of class, identity politics, reform and revolution. You’ll find more details of Red Network’s politics on their website at rednetwork.net.

In this episode we talk to Stan Erraught about his book, Rebel Notes: Popular Music and Conflict in Ireland. We discuss Stan’s own political background and work leading to his research for the book; the different facets of Irish popular music since the mid-20th Century; the particular cases of the Wolfe Tones and Kneecap and perceptions of their political and Irish cultural expression; and the changing relationship between popular music and Republicanism, politics more broadly, and Irish culture and language. Stan is a Lecturer in the School of Music at the University of Leeds. His research includes popular music and aesthetics, the political economy of the music industry, and critical theory. As well as several journal articles, he previously published On Music, Value and Utopia: Nostalgia for an Age Yet to Come? in 2018. Before moving to academia, Stan was a member of the band, The Stars of Heaven, in the 1980s. Rebel Notes is published by Beyond the Pale Books

In this episode we talk to Maurice Casey about his book, Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals. Hotel Lux tells the story of May O’Callaghan and her social circle in the Comintern’s Moscow accommodation for international communists. We discuss Maurice’s PhD research, its transformation into the book, and the lives and interactions of May and other communists with whom she crossed paths. Maurice is a historian based at Queen’s University Belfast. His work focuses on the history of modern Ireland, queer history, and the history of international communism in the interwar world. He holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin, Cambridge University and the University of Oxford, where he completed his doctoral studies in 2020. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University from 2018 to 2019. His writing has appeared in a variety of publications including History Today, the Irish Times and Tribune magazine. Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism’s Forgotten Radicals is his first book. Hotel Lux is published by Footnote Press. You can follow Maurice’s research on his Substack at archiverats.substack.com.

In this episode we talk to Aidan Beatty about his book, The Party is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism. We discuss the history of the Socialist Labour League and Workers’ Revolutionary Party in the UK; the role of the party and their Galway-born leader, Gerry Healy, in Trotskyism; the implosion of the party in 1985 with allegations of sexual abuse against Healy in a context of an already diminished Left; and responses to Aidan’s book. Aidan is a lecturer in history at Carnegie Mellon University and President of the American Conference for Irish Studies. He is currently writing a book about capitalism and Irish nationalism and is also co-editing, with Brian Hanley, a forthcoming edited collection on the global history of the Irish far-right. The Party is Always Right is published by Pluto Press and available on their website.

In this episode we talk to Gearóid Ó Faoleán about his research into support for the Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland during the Troubles. Gearóid is the author of A Broad Church: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1969–1980 and A Broad Church Vol. 2: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1980-1989, published by Merrion Press in 2019 and 2023, respectively. He is currently working on a history of traditional music in west Clare with support from a bursary from the Irish Association of Professional Historians. We discuss the extent of support and sympathy for the IRA in the South and its role in the armed campaign; how public support manifested in training, arms, and the legal system; and the wide, cross-party political spread of IRA sympathy, discrete from the political wing of the Provisional movement. Both volumes of A Broad Church are available from Merrion Press.

In this episode we talk to Niall McGuirk about the Hope Collective. Hope Collective originated in the early 1980s when Niall started putting on gigs to encourage bands to play in Dublin and developed into the Hope Collective in 1994. Hope facilitated dozens of bands playing gigs in Ireland and latterly has produced books recording the history and recollections of that music scene. We discuss Niall’s involvement in playing and organising gigs, creating fanzines, the development of Hope Collective, the D.I.Y. philosophy and values underpinning it, and the community that it generated. You can find out more about Hope Collective on their website, where you can also buy their most recent publication, Punks Listen, a collection of writing from musicians, writers and others about music that has inspired and influenced them.

In this episode we talk to Professor Helena Sheehan about her recent book, Until We Fall: Long Distance Life on the Left. We discuss the lead up to and impact of the break up of the Soviet Union, Helena’s experience of post-apartheid South Africa and the changing role of the University in the contemporary period. Helena is Emeritus Professor at Dublin City University (DCU) and has published and taught on culture, media, politics and philosophy. She has been active on the left in Ireland since the 1970s, with numerous campaigns and as a member, first, of Official Sinn Féin, then the Communist Party of Ireland and subsequently the Labour party.

In this episode we talk to Dr. Marisa McGlinchey about her book, Unfinished Business: the politics of ‘dissident’ Irish republicanism (Manchester University Press, 2019). Based on a series of interviews with radical Republicans from several organisations, the book discusses the development of ‘dissident’ Irish republicanism and considers its impact on politics throughout Ireland since the 1980s. It argues that, rather than being simply traditionalists left behind by the mainstream, the dynamics and trajectory of ‘dissident’ republicanism are shaped more by contemporary forces than historical tradition and that by understanding them we can better understand the emerging forms of political challenge in an age of austerity and increasing political instability internationally. Marisa is an Assistant Professor in Political Science at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University. Her PhD thesis, carried out at Queen’s University Belfast, examined the decline of the Social Democratic and Labour party in the post-Good Friday Agreement period and is in preparation for publication by Manchester University Press. She is a regular contributor to media coverage of ‘dissident’ republicanism.

In this episode we speak to Sinéad Mercier. Sinéad is a lecturer in Environmental Law & Policy and PhD Researcher in the Sutherland School of Law in UCD with the PROPERTY [IN]JUSTICE project led by Amy Strecker and Amanda Byer. We discuss Sinéad’s political background, her engagement with Trade Unionism and work with ICTU; environmental campaigning, how environmentalism has developed in Ireland, and some of the campaigns and groups that have played a role in that; Sinéad’s previous experience in environmental law and as a policy researcher with Senator Alice Mary Higgins and with the Green Party; and the contrast between an environmentalism still embedded in colonialism and capitalism and a genuinely transformative socialist environmentalism and Just Transition. Sinéad’s paper, “Four Case Studies on Just Transition: Lessons for Ireland”, can be found on the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) website . The discussion also mentions Adrian Kane’s book, Trade Unions , published by Cork University Press . Listeners can find the Not Here Not Anywhere campaign to end fossil fuel infrastructure and exploration at notherenotanywhere.com.

Spirit of revolution In this episode we discuss the recently published book, Spirit of Revolution: Ireland from below, 1917–1923 . This edited volume looks at regional and local case studies during the revolutionary period, highlighting the widespread radicalism – beyond the national independence movement – that flourished around Ireland at the time in land and housing action, labour mobilisation and trade unionism. We discuss the volume with John Cunningham and Terry Dunne, who are co-editors of the book, as well as both contributing individual chapters. John Cunningham works in the Department of History at the University of Galway and is prominent in the Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour and Class. He is a former editor of Saothar: journal of Irish Labour History, and is currently writing a biography of Tom Glynn, an Irish-born activist and theorist of the Industrial Workers of the World in Australia and South Africa. You can read an article by John on Tom Glynn on RTÉ’s Century Ireland website . Terry Dunne has a PhD in Sociology and has published widely on agrarian social movements. He also writes and hosts the podcast Peelers and Sheep: Rebel Tales From The Land. He is currently researching agrarian politics during the Irish Revolution, supported by the Royal Irish Academy. Terry previously spoke to us in episode 22 on anti-war and activist movements, historical sociology, and “Peelers and Sheep” . Spirit of Revolution is published by Four Courts Press and is available from their website . If you are listening to this episode at the time of publication in May 2024, the book will have a launch in Dublin on Wednesday 29th of May at 6pm in Books Upstairs on D’Olier Street, hosted by historian and previous guest on this podcast, Mary Muldowney.

In this episode we speak to activist and academic Camilla Fitzsimons. Camilla’s academic work focuses in particular on education and social movements, and she is an Associate Professor in Maynooth University School of Education. Her publications include two books – Community education and neoliberalism: Philosophies, practices and policies in Ireland (2017) and Repealed: Ireland’s Unfinished Fight for Reproductive Rights (2021). We discuss Camilla’s early political experience; her involvement in forming the Spectacle of Defiance and Hope in response to service cuts and austerity, which organised marches and workshops with a central focus on political education; her work on abortion rights and the Repeal referendum, and her book Repealed; feminism, and differentiating Left feminism from the right and liberalism; and Palestine solidarity activism in light of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, and Camilla’s work with Academics for Palestine, which seeks to build the campaign for an academic boycott of Israel and help create awareness in the higher education sector. Camilla’s website is at camillafitzsimons.com. You’ll find a video of the Spectacle of Defiance and Hope in 2011 on Youtube, and it also continues to have an active Facebook group. Other material mentioned in the discussion is linked below: The Irish Debt Crisis Community Workshop (2015) Camilla’s research on safe access zones, which generated complaints to her university: Irish healthcare workers experiences of anti-abortion protesters and the case for safe access zones Research included in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), including a chapter of Repealed.