In this episode we speak to activist and academic Camilla Fitzsimons. Camilla’s academic work focuses in particular on education and social movements, and she is an Associate Professor in Maynooth University School of Education. Her publications include two books – Community education and neoliberalism: Philosophies, practices and policies in Ireland (2017) and Repealed: Ireland’s Unfinished Fight for Reproductive Rights (2021). We discuss Camilla’s early political experience; her involvement in forming the Spectacle of Defiance and Hope in response to service cuts and austerity, which organis ..read more

In this episode we talk to Jim Monaghan. Jim first became politically active as a student in the late 1960s in Dublin. We discuss the increasing politicisation in Ireland at that time, and Jim’s political activity, initially with Labour and Students for Democratic Action, the League for A Workers’ Republic, and briefly the LWR-breakaway, the League for a Workers Vanguard. Jim then describes his move to Official Sinn Féin, the contrast of moving from a small left group to a larger party, and the direction of Republican politics at that time; his later involvement with the Movement for a Sociali ..read more

Throughout 2023 we have asked podcast guests if there are any cultural artefacts or events that they consider particularly influential on their politics. This episode brings together responses from historian Mary Muldowney, anarchist activist Gregor Kerr, Republican activist Des Dalton, author Michael Flavin, historian Brian Hanley, and Irish Anarchist Network activists Nestor and Saornil. Below, in the order they are mentioned, are our guest’s choices for politically influential books, films, music, events and media. (Where possible, we’ve linked to publicly accessible versions. Others are li ..read more

In this episode we’re joined by David Costelloe. Dave writes on history and politics on his website Never Felt Better, and in particular has written an extensive series of articles on Irish military history from the earliest records almost to the contemporary, Ireland’s Wars. We spoke to Dave previously in 2021, on episode 20 of the podcast, about his background and work on earlier military history, and he joins us again to discuss the period of the Troubles in particular and the comprehensive series of articles on the topic he has written since last speaking to us ..read more

An introduction to our next series of episodes and discussion of the Irish Left Archive project and changes we’ve made in the past year. The discussion includes mention of trying to keep all aspects of the project open. As such, we’ve made the website and podcast statistics publicly accessible, as well as any source code used in the project. Website statistics: https://u.leftarchive.ie/share/6wv4MBNDrbJW52uY/Irish%20Left%20Archive Podcast statistics: https://op3.dev/show/8e88bb97-6c47-518a-8260-1cbedbd4b095 Source code repositories: https://git.aonghus.org/Irish-Left-Archive You can follow u ..read more

In this episode we talk to Des Dalton. Des is a long-term Republican activist who joined Republican Sinn Féin in the late 1980s and has served on the party’s Ard Comhairle and as party President from 2009 to 2018. Since leaving the party in 2021, Des has been an independent Republican activist. We discuss Des’s political background and his Republicanism, which led him to joining Republican Sinn Féin from Ógra Fianna Fáil in his teens; the politics of Republican Sinn Féin, its position in Left politics and the role of Internationalism in Republicanism; his experience in the party as a member an ..read more

In this episode we talk to historian Brian Hanley about the new five-part documentary podcast, Dirty War in Dublin, written by Brian and produced by Kevin Brannigan. We discuss how the podcast came about and was developed, and look at the history of the Irish Civil War it covers and its wider context. Listeners will be familiar with Brian’s work from previous episodes of our podcast. If you haven’t already listened, you can hear Brian discuss the book he co-authored on the Official IRA and the Workers’ Party, The Lost Revolution, in episode 13; reactions to Bloody Sunday in the Republic of Ire ..read more

In this episode we talk to Emma Campbell. Emma is an artist, activist and researcher based in Belfast. She is a co-convenor of Alliance for Choice and has particularly focused both her activism and solo art work on abortion rights, with projects including When they put their hands out like scales, which included ‘Journeys’ – photographing people’s journeys to abortion clinics in England – and ‘Women on Waves’ – collages drawing on historical images and archive photos from the Women on Waves campaign. Emma is also part of the Array Collective, which won the Turner Prize in 2021 for The Druthaib ..read more

In this episode we talk to anarchist activist Gregor Kerr about the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair. The bookfair was first held in 2006 and organised by the Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM) and continued for a number of years. After a hiatus of a few years, the Irish Anarchist Network (IAN) and independent anarchists have come together to organise the fair for 2023, which will take place in the Teachers’ Club on Saturday 20th May. Gregor Kerr is an anarchist activist and trade unionist who was involved with the WSM when the original anarchist bookfair started and is part of the group organising th ..read more

In this episode we speak to two members of the Irish Anarchist Network, Nestor and Saornil. The Irish Anarchist Network was formed in 2022 by a number of independent anarchists. We discuss the formation and growth of the network and how they went about organising and structuring it; their orientation towards direct action and the balance between practical activism and theoretical discussion; their own individual backgrounds and attraction to anarchism; and contemporary issues in Irish society and approaches to the far-right. You can find out more about the Irish Anarchist Network on their Inst ..read more