Show Notes
Chris Thrall deployed as a Royal Marine into Northern Ireland in 1989. He knew very little about the conflict in Northern Ireland before arriving, and it wasn't long before he would see first-hand, what the troubles was like for a member of the British armed forces. Republicans targeted his barracks with mortor bombs, and he was also fired upon while out on patrol one day. This is his experience of the troubles.
More from The Troubles Podcast
Richard O'Rawe joined the Provisional IRA when he was a teenager. He was eventually arrested and spent a number of years taking part in the blanket protests which would eventually lead up to the hunger strikes. Richard was there for it all and in this episode we talk about his role during the hunger strikes as well as his thoughts on Freddie Scappaticci who also went by the name of Stakeknife.
It was a dark evening in February, 1983, when three armed, masked men arrived to the home of Jim Fitzgerald.
The two socialist Republican paramilitary groups were the INLA, Irish National Liberation Army and the IPLO, the Irish People's Liberation Organization.
I'll be putting on a live show in London later this month with Kevin and Jason from Shite Talk: An Irish History Podcast. It'll take place on Wednesday, May 22nd at the London Irish Centre. Ticekts are £12 and the show starts at 19:30. Be great to see some of you there!
This week's episode focuses on the life of Father Patrick Ryan, a Catholic priest who had a unique relationship with the Provisional IRA and Libyan Dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. Through Father Ryan, the Provisional IRA received millions in cash, but it was his engineering work with Provisional IRA bombs, which would end up saving the lives of many paramilitaries… while allowing them to improve the efficacy of their bombing campaign.