The Troubles Podcast

In this episode we will focus on the attacks associated with Stephen 'Top Gun' McKeag, his fall from grace from the UDA and the circumstance which would lead to his eventual demise. This episode was written by John Livingstone, and you can find more of his writing by searching @TheTroublesArchive on Instagram.

This two-part episode focuses on Stephen 'Top Gun' McKeag, who was a prominant member of the Ulster Defence Association. He was also responsible for many killings of Catholics in Northern Ireland. This first episode will talk about how the UDA restructured in the early 90's and what led to the rise of C-Company.This episode was written by John Livingstone, and you can find more of his writing by searching @TheTroublesArchive on Instagram.

This week's episode features my chat with academic and historian, Gearóid Ó Faoleán. We talked about the Republic of Ireland's response to the growth of the Provisional IRA and how they dealt with the rise of Republicanism. We talk about how the IRA made explosives, whether they helped or hindered the heroin epidemic in Dublin, how Republicanism and class have changed over the decades and a lot more.

The Remembrance Day Bombing was an IRA bombing which was carried out in the town of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland. The Provisional IRA claimed that they were targeting members of the security forces but instead ended up killing mostly elderly civilians. A lot of this episode focuses on where the IRA were getting their bombs from, which took them to the North African country of Libya.

Bertie Ahern was the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland during the peace talks in Northern Ireland. I sat down with him in March 2023 to talk about his memories during this period, and the many times it felt like it was all going to fall apart. We then talked about Northern Ireland today and what affect Brexit has had on the Good Friday Agreement.

The Good Friday Agreement was a mammoth undertaking which was the result of multiple failed agreements and a quest for peace for the people of Northern Ireland, This epiosde focuses on the sheer effort that was involved in finding peace for what many percieved as a neverending war.

This episode is about John Crawley, who joined the US Marines with the intention of returning back to Ireland to then join the IRA. He hoped he could bring his expertise to what he believed was one of the best paramilitary groups in the world. But once he joined, things weren't exactly what he expected, and in the end, the Provisional IRA were more interested in his accent than his expertise with weapons.

Frank Stagg was a Republican prisoner from Ireland who died on hunger strike in 1976. In this episode we will learn about what happened afterwards, as the Irish Government went to significant lengths to prevent his funeral from becoming a rallying cry to the Republican movement.