The Irish History Boys

In this episode of the Irish History Boys, hosts Tim McGarry and Dr. Cormac Moore go back to November 1976 to discuss the election of Jimmy Carter as President of the United States and the changing landscape of American politics.

Reading from The Irish News, we revisit Carter’s historic victory over Gerald Ford—a former peanut farmer and political outsider who declared "the sun is rising on a beautiful new day for this country".

We examine how the shadow of Watergate, Ford's controversial pardon of Richard Nixon, and famous television debate missteps shaped one of the closest-fought presidential races in modern history.

Additionally, we explore how Carter broke long-standing US diplomatic precedent by initiating a direct American policy engagement with Northern Ireland.

Going back 100 years to November 1926, we examine the controversy surrounding an Irish News headline declaring "Palaces for Policemen".

We discuss the Northern Ireland government's proposal to spend £800,000 erecting 90 new Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) barracks and reconstructing 115 others.

We dissect the fierce parliamentary opposition led by nationalist MP Joe Devlin, who condemned such massive security expenditure at a time of deep economic recession, severe poverty, and urgent housing shortages for the poor.

We also reflect on Unionist security anxieties, the reliance on the B Specials, and the long, contentious history of policing in Ireland.

To conclude, we tackle a 1926 sporting dispute from Fermanagh, where the local GAA County Board expressed "great indignation" over reports that schoolboys were being coerced into playing rugby.

We unpack the condemnation of forcing boys to embrace a "foreign code," the history and enforcement of the GAA's ban on English games, and the 19th-century invention of Gaelic football under Maurice Davin.

Finally, we reflect on how times have changed up to the modern era with the establishment of the PSNI GAA team.
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Join hosts Tim McGarry and Cormac Moore as they dive into the colorful, tragic, and surprising history of the Irish border.

In this episode, the team explores the origins of border enforcement following the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty and the rise of border smuggling. From women stuffing heavy "Ulster coats" with goods in 1930s Donegal to cattle swimming across Lough Erne during the Economic War, discover how ordinary citizens outsmarted customs barriers.

The episode then turns to one of the darkest moments of 1976: the shocking hospital assassination of Provisional Sinn Féin Vice President Máire Drumm at Belfast's Mater Hospital. Finally, look back at John Hume's groundbreaking 1976 diplomatic mission to Washington D.C., which reshaped American involvement in Northern Ireland.
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Welcome to this week's The Irish History Boys podcast with Tim and Cormac. On this episode, they discuss the 1976 Irish Presidential Crisis, where President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh referred new emergency powers legislation to the Supreme Court following heightened IRA violence in Dublin, creating severe friction with Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave’s coalition government.

They examine how the crisis peaked when Defence Minister Patrick Donegan publicly insulted the President as a thundering disgrace. When the Taoiseach refused to discipline Donegan, Ó Dálaigh resigned to defend the dignity of his office, directly contributing to the government's landslide defeat in 1977.

Finally, they cover how the government enforced Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act, banning RTÉ interviews with Provisional Sinn Féin and paramilitary groups, a controversial media prohibition that remained in place until 1994.
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Join Tim McGarry and Dr. Cormac Moore on The Irish History Boys as they explore what British policy looked like towards Ireland between 1912 and 1921, including home rule.

This episode focuses specifically on the chequered careers and legacies of two consecutive British Prime Ministers: Herbert Henry Asquith and David Lloyd George.

They discuss Lloyd George's secret double-dealing with unionists and nationalists, the backfiring 1918 Conscription Crisis, and the passage of the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, which formally partitioned the six Ulster counties.
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Join Tim McGarry and Dr. Cormac Moore on The Irish History Boys as they explore Ireland's diplomatic push for co-equality at the 1926 Imperial Conference and the Balfour Declaration.

This episode also dives into a 1976 church initiative attempting to tackle 'them and us' politics in Northern Ireland, alongside a look at the 1926 Soviet power struggle that paved the way for Joseph Stalin's rise.
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