HeyJaredThe Irish History Boys
Comedian Tim McGarry and Historian Cormac Moore select the stories from the archives of The Irish News that bring Irish history to life in enlightening and amusing ways. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 10
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- Sep 10, 2026
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- Jul 9, 2026
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Ireland’s Deadliest Cinema Fire & The 1976 Internee Scandal (opens the original)
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In this episode of the Irish History Boys , Tim McGarry and Dr. Cormac Moore reflect on the harrowing 1926 cinema fire in the County Limerick village of Dromcollogher, an appalling catastrophe that claimed nearly 50 lives. We examine how a makeshift cinema in a hardware store loft turned into a blazing inferno when unprotected film reels ignited, trapping moviegoers with only a single ladder exit. We examine the devastating impact of this tragedy, locally remembered as "The Burning", where one-t
Was 1926 the Darkest Year in the History of Ireland? (opens the original)
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In this episode of the Irish History Boys, we explore the "disease of pessimism" that gripped Ireland in September 1926. Drawing from contemporary accounts warning that this despair threatened to develop into a national characteristic of "moral decrepitude and mental stagnation," we dissect the psychological and economic scars left by the Civil War, the 1925 famine, and rampant emigration. We then fast-forward to the modern era to debate when and how Ireland finally transitioned from post-indepe
The Unbelievable 1976 Emergency That Suspended Ireland’s Civil Liberties (opens the original)
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In this episode of the Irish History Boys, we unpack the dramatic political fallout of August 1976, when the Dublin government declared a shocking, post-WWII state of emergency to combat the rising tide of subversive violence. We examine the introduction of draconian legislation that suspended ordinary laws indefinitely, and the unprecedented constitutional crisis that saw Irish President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh resign after being publicly branded a "thundering disgrace" by a government minister. We
The Forgotten Pandemic: Ireland’s Deadly 1920s “Sleepy Sickness” Mystery (opens the original)
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In this episode of the Irish History Boys , we delve into the "forgotten pandemic" of the early 20th century: Encephalitis Lethargica, or "sleeping sickness". We discuss how this mystery disease left victims in virtual comas for decades, the high mortality rates that rivalled the Spanish Flu, and why it remains one of history’s most overlooked medical crises. We also profile the notorious Lord Haw-Haw (William Joyce), the American-born, Ireland-raised Nazi propagandist whose "Germany Calling" br
How a Nobel Prize Destroyed Northern Ireland’s Most Powerful Protest Movement (opens the original)
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In this episode of the Irish History Boys , we examine the paradoxical year of 1976 in Northern Ireland —a year marked by the second-highest death toll of the Troubles, yet one that offered a fleeting "glimmer of hope" through a spontaneous, bottom-up peace movement. We recount the horrific tragedy that served as a catalyst: the deaths of the Maguire children in August 1976, which led Betty Williams to launch a "peace snowball" that saw tens of thousands of women from both the Shankill and Falls
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