<p>In this episode we talk to Gearóid Ó Faoleán about his research into support for the Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland during the Troubles. Gearóid is the author of <em><a href="https://www.irishacademicpress.ie/product/a-broad-church-the-provisional-ira-in-the-republic-of-ireland-1969-1980/">A Broad Church: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1969–1980</a></em> and <em><a href="https://www.irishacademicpress.ie/product/a-broad-church-2/">A Broad Church Vol. 2: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1980-1989</a></em>, published by Merrion Press in 2019 and 2023, respectively. He is currently working on a history of traditional music in west Clare with support from a bursary from the Irish Association of Professional Historians.</p> <p>We discuss the extent of support and sympathy for the IRA in the South and its role in the armed campaign; how public support manifested in training, arms, and the legal system; and the wide, cross-party political spread of IRA sympathy, discrete from the political wing of the Provisional movement.</p> <p>Both volumes of <em>A Broad Church</em> are <a href="https://www.irishacademicpress.ie/auth/gearoid-o-faolean/">available from Merrion Press</a>.</p>