The Good Listener Podcast

Brendan Hughes (not to be confused with the deceased Brendan ‘The Dark” Hughes) shares his truly extraordinary life story, a life shaped by his membership of the East-Tyrone PIRA in the early days of the conflict in the North. Brendan tells us about his time ambushing British soldiers in the countryside and robbing banks to fund raise for the IRA and his thoughts on having to t

My guest this week is ex-b*mb disposal man, Steve Smith. Steve worked as a EOD officer in Belfast during the early 80s and worked to rid the city of IRA & Loyalist b*mbs.Steve gives us his insight into the various types of explosives used throughout the conflict, the differences between IRA & Loyalist b*mb-makers, how it feels to put on the b*mb-suit & appro

Graham Cousins grew up protestant in East Belfast and spent his late-teen years and early 20s in the Ulster Defense Association better known as the UDA, a loyalist paramilitary group formed in the early 70s. He has since become close friends with ex-paramilitaries from the other side including my last guest, ex-b*mb-maker Packy McMahon (https://youtu.be/R5XJQrUCeMk?si=zCipaXh0uMIK6

Patrick “Packy” McMahon is a former provisional IRA bomb maker who was jailed after being caught in the act of manufacturing a 1,500 LB bomb.Packy tells us about growing up as the conflict raged and how his life-long battle with British soldiers began. We spoke about the in and outs of how the IRA manufactured its bombs/explosive devices from beginning to end, the materials use

Ian Hurst, better known to some as “Martin Ingram” was a member of the Force Research Unit, an intel gathering and spy-handling British security forces group and spent time as a handler in Derry during which time he worked with Frank Hegarty.Ian is best known for co-authoring the book ’Stakeknife” which exposed the exploits of one of the North’s most notorious informants,

*** PREVIEW CLIP*** (I usually don't do this but to fill the void this week here's a snippet from the full episode which will be available on YouTube this week and on podcast platforms next Monday)In a clip from our upcoming 3 + hour interview, ex-FRU handler Ian Hurst (Martin Ingram) gives his take on how he thinks the infamous "Agent Stakeknife" was recruited by

For this episode I spoke with author Henry Hemming about his most recent book “Four Shots in the Night”, an excellently written true-story of a British army agent within the IRA named Frank Hegarty. Henry talks to us about the army unit that recruited and ran Hegarty, the now infamous FRU (force research unit) and their unique approach to running agents, how princess Diana was

For this episode I spoke with filmmaker Des Henderson, about his recent, extremely powerful documentary "Lost Boys: Belfast's Missing Children" which focus on the disappearances of a number of boys in Northern Ireland during the troubles and explores the dark story of Kincora Boys Home.Des tells us about the links that these disappearances may have had with a network

Ex-IRA volunteer and author of the “Stakeknife's Dirty War", Richard O Rawe returns to the pod to share his analysis on the recently published and long awaited, Operation Kenova (interim report). This was an investigation into the FRU (force research unit) agent code named Stakeknife and the IRA’s internal security unit better known as the “nutting squad”.Richard w

Padraig Og O' Ruaric, historian and author of "The Disappeared" speaks to us about his the forced disappearances the have taken place for political reasons in Ireland's often bloody history.We speak about the different reasons for forced disappearances in Ireland's war of independence and civil war committed by both Irish guerrilla fighters and the British Arm