Ireland’s main political parties are not split on a traditional left-right model, but instead represent different sides of a bloody civil war in the 1920s. But why is this war spoken about so little today? Could it be that its memory is too painful? Or is it because it still so strangely dominant in modern Irish politics? In this episode, Tim Mc Inerney traces the history of Ireland’s Civil War from 1922-23, and how it shaped the country’s political landscape. Meanwhile, Naomi O’Leary pays a visits the Irish Seanad or senate in Dublin, where she meets two politicians who have been deeply influenced by Civil War politics, albeit in very different ways. One is Senator Mark Daly, a descendant from anti-treaty rebels still questing for a 32-county Ireland, and the other is Senator Ian Marshall, the first northern unionist ever to be elected to the Irish Seanad.
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A transcript of this episode is available here: https://www.theirishpassport.com/transcripts/transcript-irish-politics-and-the-civil-war/
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A hundred years since the end of the First World War, the remembrance poppy remains a controversial symbol in Ireland. Why? Writer Kylie Noble explains what the poppy meant to her as a child growing up in Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, and how she reconciles it with her British and Irish identity today. Naomi O’Leary traces the roots of Ireland’s complex relationship with the poppy and how it intersects with her own family history, and interrogates what the fundraising appeal is for according to the accounts of the Royal British Legion. Should Taoiseach Leo Varadkar be wearing a shamrock poppy? You decide.
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Featuring Cello Duet No. 1 by Chief Boima
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Ireland’s housing crisis is at boiling point, with homelessness at record levels and even well-paid people struggling to afford soaring rents and house prices. It’s the political issue everyone is talking about — but it’s one with a long and dramatic history. Tim Mc Inerney and Naomi O’Leary trace the backstory to how an agrarian revolt turned Ireland into a kind of property-based welfare state. Guest reporter Molly May O’Leary visits an ‘occupation training’ session by Take Back the City, the activists who are grabbing headlines by seizing empty buildings in Dublin and demanding they be turned into social housing. How did Ireland go from the excesses of the Celtic Tiger property boom, to bust and back again? And what does diaspora minister Ciaran Cannon say about the impact on those hoping to move home? Hear the whole story in this episode. Featuring insights from University College Dublin Professor Michelle Norris, University College Cork Professor Cathal O’Connell, and Lorcan Sirr, who’s senior lecturer of housing at the Dublin Institute of Technology.
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A transcript of this episode is available here: https://www.theirishpassport.com/transcript-the-housing-crisis/
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Tim Mc Inerney and Naomi O’Leary travel to Belfast for the peak of Northern Ireland’s marching season: the 11th and 12th of July, when unionists and British-identifying communities light enormous bonfires and parade through the streets to commemorate Protestant military victories of the 17th century. We speak to experts including Donald MacRaild and Dominic Bryan of Queens University Belfast who explain the meaning of the tradition, and visit loyalist and republican communities in Belfast to understand what this time of year is like for them. We find many sides to the Glorious Twelfth: it can be a beloved community event, but it’s intimidating enough that it drives most Catholics off the streets of Belfast. Naomi and Tim come face to face with the darker side, as they find themselves caught up in the thick of openly sectarian celebrations.
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A transcript of this episode is available here: https://www.theirishpassport.com/transcripts/transcript-the-glorious-twelfth/
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Ireland’s main political parties are not split on a traditional left-right model, but instead represent different sides of a bloody civil war in the 1920s. But why is this war spoken about so little today? Could it be that its memory is too painful? Or is it because it still so strangely dominant in modern Irish politics? In this episode, Tim Mc Inerney traces the history of Ireland’s Civil War from 1922-23, and how it shaped the country’s political landscape. Meanwhile, Naomi O’Leary pays a visits the Irish Seanad or senate in Dublin, where she meets two politicians who have been deeply influenced by Civil War politics, albeit in very different ways. One is Senator Mark Daly, a descendant from anti-treaty rebels still questing for a 32-county Ireland, and the other is Senator Ian Marshall, the first northern unionist ever to be elected to the Irish Seanad.
For bonus episodes, support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/theirishpassport.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook: @PassportIrish.
A transcript of this episode is available here: https://www.theirishpassport.com/transcripts/transcript-irish-politics-and-the-civil-war/
Support this podcast 
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