The Good Listener Podcast

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John O’Brien is a retired Detective Chief Superintendent of An Garda Síochána, the national police service of Ireland. Over the course of a distinguished policing career that spanned more than 38 years, he held a succession of senior operational and strategic leadership roles.
 
John also served as National Head of Interpol and Europol, playing a pivotal role in fostering cooperation between Irish law enforcement and international policing organisations.

His assessment regarding the Mass Murder of 34 innocents on the 17 May 1974  is that the UVF — acting alone — did not possess the technical, operational, or organisational capacity to execute the Dublin car bombings. John lays out the case based on a layered accumulation of forensic findings, expert military testimony, comparisons with the UVF’s historical bombing record and analysis of the sophisticated planning required for the Dublin operation.

00:00 Could the UVF have acted alone ?
03:20 THE DAY OF THE B*MBINGS ??????
13:25 “The Killing Years”
29:20 The B*mb Signature
47:23 EXPERT MILITARY OPINION
58:20 British Strategy & Kenova
1:09:35 Did the UVF get help planning the attack
1:31:00 Final Thoughts

BUY JOHN'S BOOKS : https://www.jaobrien.ie/home

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**NOT A CLIP FROM MARTIN'S LAST INTERVIEW**

Ex-republcian prisoner Martin McAllister joins us again to share the story of one of the IRA's most brazen and risky one-man prison escapes, an escape that was masterminded & executed in the space of 2 hours. It resulting in an IRA man walking straight out of the British internment camp, all while being assisted, unwittingly, by one of the top prison guards.  

Martin, not content with having once taken part in a mass-jailbreak from Portlaoise max-security prison, employed his skills of observation and opportunism to free a fellow republican prisoner who started the morning completely unaware that he would walk straight out of Long Kesh that day.

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For the episode I’m joined by ex Royal Ulster Constabulary and PSNI officer Sam Thompson. Sam spent his teen years growing up in a 1970s Belfast and remembers seeing his city descend into chaos and violence as the conflict erupted. Despite this Sam elected to join the police force which brought him face to face with danger in some of Northern Ireland’s most deadly areas including East Tyrone, Armagh and Springfield Road in Belfast.

Sam shares stories about narrowly avoiding death at the hands of the IRA 3 times within a week and how some of his fellow officers weren’t so quite lucky.

We spoke about the importance of conversations about the conflict and of preserving the stories/memories of those who were there as well as how Sam ended up making friends with ex republican paramilitaries. 

00:00 Making friends with ex-IRA men 
06:25 Growing up 
19:30 Joining the RUC 
38:40 INLA in Armagh 
43:45 British soldiers telling Loyalists that they’re “Not British”
47:07 BELFAST (Springfield Road station)
57:00 UDR 
59:55 Collusion ?
1:29:15 Most memorable moments from Sam’s career
1:32:15 Thoughts “Say Nothing” tv series 
1:35:45 Sam’s writing 
1:43:00 Common misconceptions 

 BUY SAM’s NOVEL: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nights-Armour-Samuel-Thompson/dp/178117699X

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For this episode I'm joined by ex- South Armagh man Martin McAllister who you may have seen in the recent BBC documentary on Captain Robert Nairac.

Martin shares his experiences including guerrilla warfare in the fields of South Armagh, being part of one of the IRA's biggest prison escapes and being shot while attempting to ambush British soldiers. He tells us about the british army medic who intervened and potentially stopped his fellow troops from k*lling Martin and how this had a profound effect on him.

Martin speaks in depth about the importance of empathy, even during a violent conflict, and how he came to hold such views. Martin has spent decades searching for the remains of "the disappeared", a group of people who the IRA m*rdered but have never disclosed their place of burial, including one of the most enigmatic figures from the troubles, Captain Robert Nairac. 

 00:00 Early days of the troubles in Crossmaglen 
06:05 Joining the IRA 
12:05 Training 
17:20 British Army “No-Road” Policy & Helicopters In South Armagh 
20:30 “Bandit Country” Nickname 
23:30 ROBERT NAIRIC
28:05 Breaking Out Of Max-Security Prison 
41:40 Returning to Active Service 
43:50 SHOT & CAPTURED BY BRITISH ARMY 
49:50 EMPATHY
57:28 KINGSMILL 
1:14:02 Quest to find Robert Nairac & “the disappeared” 
1:16:10 Martin’s thoughts on recent BBC documentary that he featured in

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My guest for this week is long-time Belfast -based journalist, Hugh Jordan. Hugh explains what being a journalist was like during some of Belfast's most turbulent years as elements of the Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries tried to derail the peace-process and plunge the North back into violence.

Hugh tells us about how he acquired and kept his sources during this time, often members of the IRA, UVF, UDA and more. He speaks about the dangers that come with his role, threats that have made against his life, being assaulted on the job and meeting some of the conflicts most famous "touts"/informers.

He also shares stories about the Shankill Butchers, ex- SF publicly director Danny Morrison and how Hugh repaired his relationship with Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair. Hope you enjoy!!

00:00 Intro
4:10 Paisley’s role in early violence in N.I 
16:00 Sources within the IRA
26:10 Dealing w/ sources 
34:10 Sources lying ?
36:40 Meeting with INLA
40:30 Willie Carlin & Ray Gilmour 
52:25 Paramiltaries post- troubles 
57:00 Cameron Hastie 
1:00:30 Basher Bates 
1:06:45 Danny Morrison story 
1:10:50 Naming Thomas “Slab” Murphy 
1:15:00 Patching up relationship with Johnny Adair 
1:24:50 RUC man Ronnie Flanigan 
1:32:30 Hugh gets PUNCHED on the job 

PLEASE HELP OUT THE SHOW IF YOU CAN SPARE IT.. THANK YOU
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/goodlistenerpodcast 

CONTACT THE SHOW: [email protected]