The Troubles Podcast

Pat Finucane was a solicitor who defended a number of high-profile republican paramilitaries. It was for this reason he was targeted and killed by loyalist paramilitaries. I may have said it before about previous episodes, but this is up there as being one of the most complicated legal cases in British history.

The basic argument is that the 4 main loyalists who killed him were all informants for various branches of intelligence services and that the intelligence services knew about the plots to kill Pat and did nothing.

So the question is raised... Does that make them in a sense responsible? And were these tactics known at the highest level of the British Government? That's what will be unpacked in this episode.

Many children were killed and injured in the conflict known as the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This episode will first focus on the children who lost their lives during the conflict and then will be featuring an interview with Richard Moore, who was blinded at a young age after he was hit in the face with a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier.

It’s August 9th, 1971 in Northern Ireland. The British Army had just launched Operation Demetrius, which was an operation aimed at completely smashing the IRA.

Ultimately, the operation was a complete failure, and, in the district of Ballymurphy in Belfast, 11 people would lose their lives at the hand of British soldiers.

But it would be almost 50 years later, that the families of the victims would ever get some sort of closure. This is the story of the Ballymurphy massacre.

Dolours Price grew up in a staunchly republican family. From an early age, she joined the Provisional IRA and took part in a number of campaigns before being imprisoned and in later years turning completely against the Provisional IRA. At one stage, Dolours and her sister, Marion were two of the most infamous people in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

In this episode we’re going to talk a little bit about the Good Friday Agreement, what life in Northern Ireland has been like since the Agreement, the impact of Brexit, the Northern Irish Protocol, coronavirus and how all of these things culminated with the rioting that occurred in early April of 2021.

It was a Saturday evening in the New Lodge area of Belfast. There was a jovial atmosphere in the Catholic Owned McGurk's Bar. Outside the pub, a man appeared and placed a parcel at the pub entrance and rushed back to their car before driving off. Moments later the bomb exploded. causing the whole building to collapse, killing and injuring most of the patrons inside.

It was around 7 in the evening in the Divis Flats when there was a knock on the door of the McConville’s. The children answered the door to a number of individuals. They asked ‘where’s Jean’ and when she appeared they told her to put on a coat and they took her out into the night. They told the children that she would be back in 30 mins. That was the last time Jean McConville was seen alive. In the days following her abduction, no neighbours called over to check on the children and no investigation was ever opened up. Jean simply vanished and no one wanted to know where she’d gone.

It was 5.30 in the evening, and sixteen textile workers were in a minibus on their way home from the factory they worked at. Four workers got out at Whitecross and the bus continued on before being flagged down and stopped by a man in a combat uniform. They asked which of the workers were Catholics and the one Catholic man made himself known. He was told to "Get down the road and don't look back". On that fateful evening, the remaining 11 protestant workers who were still on the bus would not be making it home.SOURCES:Article about the massacre:https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/imported/blood-in-the-rain-28255886.htmlArticle about Kingsmill memorial being attacked:https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-20573217BBC article from the archives: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/5/newsid_2500000/2500393.stmCAIN Photo of a memorial:https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/victims/memorials/static/photos/408.htmlArticle about Sinn Fein rejecting findings of CAIN report: https://sluggerotoole.com/2011/06/22/sinn-fein-rejects-het-findings-on-kingsmill-massacre/Article about the families campaign for the truth:https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-13871535Human kindness and heroism shine out from North’s Kingsmill atrocity:https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/human-kindness-and-heroism-shine-out-from-north-s-kingsmill-atrocity-1.1858395Interview with Alan Black the sole survivor of the massacre, during a chance, encounter on the street.The reporter didn't know who he was and was asking random people on the street about Brexit:https://youtu.be/txcnmz_qiKIArticle regarding the palm print:https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/kingsmill-massacre-man-will-not-be-prosecuted-over-palm-print-1.2969511Account of Alan Black during inquest:https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/coroner-s-court/victim-of-kingsmill-massacre-cried-for-his-mother-inquest-told-1.2660388Alan Black RTE Interview:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0RRm36vdhU&ab_channel=RTERadio1A documentary about the Glenanne Ganghttps://youtu.be/LUjC5xJrmLk See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

1972 was by far the worst year of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, in terms of death toll. 476 people lost their lives and over half of that number was civilians. It was also the year where the IRA staged their largest ever day of bombings. In the space of 80 minutes, the IRA detonated 22 bombs in and around Belfast, turning the city into a warzone. This is the story of Bloody Friday.SOURCES:The Primary Source for this Episode, an excellent BBC documentary about Bloody Friday:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s1iH3z8EhY&t=2722s&ab_channel=leftofcentreTimeline of the day:https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/bfriday/events.htmPathe footage from the day:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUNyWNIZwVU&ab_channel=SarahRusanowskiFootage of one of the bombs:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOC0RqCAoMw&ab_channel=BritishPath%C3%A9IRA Statement:https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/organ/ira/ira_1972-07-21.htmBasic overview:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Friday_(1972)Huge thanks to Podcorn for sponsoring this episode. Explore sponsorship opportunities and start monetizing your podcast by signing up here: https://podcorn.com/podcasters/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

June 18th, 1994 in the small village of Loughinisland the Northern Irish county of Down. There was a crowd of people in the tiny heights bar, watching the Republic of Ireland play Italy in the 1994 World Cup. At 10 minutes past 10, two men dressed in boiler suits and balaclavas walked into the bar. They were armed with assault rifles, and as they walked in, they shouted ‘Fenian Bastards’ and then opened fire on the unarmed crowd, killing five. They then disappeared into the night. The incident went on to become known as the Loughinisland Massacre and what went on to be revealed over the next 20 years has led this massacre to become one of the most stark and startling examples of collusion between the police and loyalist paramilitary group, the UVF. SOURCES:Hutchinson Report:https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/police/ombudsman/po240611_loughinisland.pdfMaguire Report:https://www.policeombudsman.org/PONI/files/17/17aea3d1-c4c6-4f02-8ebc-4eb39af9b168.pdfNo Stone Unturned Documentary (Only available in certain regions):https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Stone-Unturned-Aidan-OToole/dp/B078HFQG7JArticle about the Republic of Ireland Football Team's gesture:https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/article16160468.eceArticle about the arrest of the journalists:https://www.thejournal.ie/loughinisland-journalists-4672007-Jun2019/Article about a survivor of Loughinisland:https://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/others/survivor-loughinisland-massacre-1994Owner of the Heights bar speaks of the massacre:https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-36494898Article about retired policemen trying to quash the Maguire Report:https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/police-ombudsman-michael-maguire-overstepped-mark-in-loughinisland-report-criminal-findings-court-rules-39296069.html See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.