Irish Left Archive Podcast

In this episode we talk to Kevin Rooney of the Irish Border Poll project. Kevin is a Republican activist originally from Belfast and now based in London. He established IrishBorderPoll.com to encourage discussion and promote debate in Britain about Ireland’s future and to advocate for a border poll, which the project does through its website and events such as panel debates at Féile an Phobail and in Westminster.

We discuss Kevin’s background and experience growing up in Belfast; Republicanism and how his perspective has developed throughout his life; the UK post-Brexit and how that affects the prospect of Irish unity; the role of the Irish Border Poll project; and the opportunities and risks in the contemporary political landscape for a united Ireland.

The Irish Border Poll project is available at IrishBorderPoll.com.

A few additional links that were mentioned in the course of the discussion:

Kevin’s article about liberation theologist Des Wilson

The Clár agus Rún for the 1986 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis

Kevin’s 1997 Fortnight article, Irrational Identities (unfortunately not open access)

In this episode we talk to John Fay about Newshound. John set up Newshound in 1996, after moving from the U.S.A. to Ireland, as a daily curated source of news on the North and the development of the peace process. It later became part of Irish-American news site, Irish Central, and ran daily until 2018.

We discuss the founding of Newshound and its growth in the early days of the web; its reception in the media and political spheres; interactions with journalists and users; and the role of a project of its kind as the web developed over the years of its existence.

While no longer online, you can find the Newshound site on Archive.org’s Wayback Machine.

In this episode we talk to Eugene McCartan. Originally from Co. Down, Eugene has been an activist with the Communist Party of Ireland since joining in Dublin in 1974. He served as the party’s Chairperson from 1989 to 2001 and then General Secretary until his retirement from that role in 2023.

We discuss Eugene’s background and joining the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI); the short-lived Left Alliance between the CPI, Workers’ Party and Liaison Committee of the Labour Left around that time; the history of the Communist Party of Ireland and its development since the 1920s – through key periods of the conflict in the North, the tensions in organising North and South, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and subsequent organising; the CPI’s positions on Imperialism and Republicanism; and the contemporary international conflict and political position.

In this episode we’re joined again by Charles Tuba for a discussion of Jack Holland and Henry McDonald’s book, INLA: Deadly Divisions, which tells the story of the origins and development of the INLA.

Charles has joined us previously to discuss Seán Swan’s Official Irish Republicanism in episode 25 and Robert White’s biography of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh in episode 38.

The writing of Seamus Costello is available here.

This episode is a round up of the Irish Left Archive project in 2025 and answers to some listener questions. Thanks as always to everyone who has supported and engaged with the archive by sending documents, speaking on the podcast, emailing, commenting, and using the site.

Thanks also to the editorial team of Saothar, the journal of the Irish Labour History Society, for including an article on the Irish Left Archive in their 50th anniversary edition, Saothar 50.

More to come in 2026!