Prominent members of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael harbouring escaped IRA men, kidnappings replacing armed robberies, gardai saluting IRA funerals, agricultural grants used to build sheds for storing bombs, a plan to flood the economy with counterfeit £10 notes. Those were just some of the incidents and activities in the Republic of Ireland in the 1980s while a violent conflict was taking place just north of the border. So how much support was there for the Provos in the south and what form did it take. Gearoid O Faolean has written a new book about what exactly went on and some of the revelations are surprising, with one of two jaw dropping. He is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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