The Rise of the Provisional IRA: Conspiracy vs Reality
Irish History Podcast

The Rise of the Provisional IRA: Conspiracy vs Reality

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 16, 202653 min
  • Interview
  • History

In the late 1960s, the Provisional IRA and what became modern Sinn Féin emerged from a bitter split in the Irish republican movement. This split would shape not only the Troubles but also Irish politics down to the present day. However, for the last five decades, the story of how and why that split occurred has been clouded by enduring conspiracy theories. The most prominent of these claims that the Irish government in Dublin orchestrated the split to create a more conservative force in the Provisional IRA and neutralise left-wing republicanism. Many o...

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around the origins of the provisional IRA. As you're about to hear, these aren't necessarily

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A1 17%A2 26%B1 30%B2 22%C1 5%
  • 73% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 181 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 232 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

Hello and welcome to the Irish History Podcast. My name is Finn Dewar and this episode has a brand new format. It's not quite a debate, but it's a conversation with a guest who I'm about to introduce. He's familiar to you and I'll introduce him now in a second, but the topic is a fascinating

0:22

one. And it's conspiracy theories around the troubles and focusing on one in particular, and that's around the origins of the provisional IRA. As you're about to hear, these aren't necessarily wild conspiracy theories. They're very commonly believed in Ireland today, but at their origin,

0:39

the history tells us a very different story and we're going to explore that in this conversation. Now I will say there's an important announcement at the end of the episode about the supporters tour coming up at the end of September, so don't tune out at the end of the conversation. around for that. Now sound on the episode is by Kate Dunlea, but to kick off I

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