This is a feature length episode on the life and crimes of Michael McKevitt, the republican hardliner who is considered to be the founding father of dissident republicanism. McKevitt died on January 2 from cancer.

The show examines McKevitt’s role in the Provisional IRA, his decision to set up the Real IRA, the 1998 Omagh bombing, and how an MI5 spy called Dave Rupert helped the Irish and British security services to bring him to justice.

John Mooney is joined by the journalist and author Michael O'Toole and Tony Hearty, a retired special branch detective who investigated McKevitt.