{"podcast":{"title":"Irish History Podcast","slug":"irish-history-podcast-778168","podcast_index_feed_id":778168,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/9190bee0-95f3-400b-842d-3232974654ec","website_url":"https://www.irishhistorypodcast.ie/shop","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/619566332eacc3a360702518/show-cover.png","author":"Fin Dwyer","episode_count":481,"summary":"From the Norman Invasion to the War of Independence, the Great Famine to the Troubles, the Irish History Podcast takes you on a journey through the most fascinating stories in Ireland's past. Whether it’s the siege of Dublin in 1171 or gun battles in the 1920s, the podcast vividly recreates a sense of time and place. Each episode is meticulously researched, creating character-driven narratives that are engaging and accessible for all. Since the first episode was released back in 2010, the podcast has covered scores of captivating stories. Major multi-part series have explored the Great Famine, the Norman Invasion, and Irish involvement in the Spanish Civil War. If you are looking for standalone episodes, there are lots of great interviews with leading Irish historians covering topics from medieval sex magic to Irish connections in the Jack the Ripper murders! Why not start with 'Three Days in July', an acclaimed mini-series from the summer of 2024. It explores the early years of the Troubles and the forgotten story of a young Londoner who was shot dead by the British Army in Belfast in 1970. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-24T02:24:15.633780+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-history-podcast-778168"},"episode":{"title":"A Conspiracy of Fear & Silence: The Maamtrasna Murders","slug":"a-conspiracy-of-fear-silence-the-maamtrasna-murders","published_at":"2026-06-03T03:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-history-podcast-778168/a-conspiracy-of-fear-silence-the-maamtrasna-murders","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-history-podcast-778168","url":"https://shows.acast.com/irishhistory/episodes/a-conspiracy-of-fear-silence-the-maamtrasna-murders","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/irishhistory/e/6a1d42d55e7c8b2378072268/media.mp3","summary":"In August 1882, a brutal mass murder in a remote valley in the west of Ireland shocked the world. At Maamtrasna, a family, the Joyces, were attacked in their home. The victims ranged from a teenage girl to an 80-year-old woman. The police quickly suspected that the killers had been neighbours and even relatives of the Joyce family. However, a motive was elusive. As wider Irish society was shocked by the killings, injustice was followed by injustice. Indeed, the trials would soon overshadow the crime itself, unfolding into one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in the legal history of Ireland or the UK. In this episode, Margaret Kelleher joins me to explore this intriguing case. We dig into the dark events that unfolded in Maamtrasna in the summer of 1882 and examine why an innocent man, Myles Joyce, was sent to the gallows after a trial conducted entirely in English, a language he could neither speak nor understand. The episode reveals what we know happened in Maamtrasna on that fateful night and how perjury and a rush to convict rather than find genuine justice lay at the heart of this intriguing case. This is the story of how a brutal murder in an isolated mountain community ended up having massive political implications, leaving a legacy that continues to reverberate today. Support the show: Patreon.com/irishpodcast Margaret's book The Maamtrasna Murders: Language, Life and Death in Nineteenth-Century Ireland is available here https://www.ucdpress.ie/page/detail/the-maamtrasna-murders/?k=9781910820421 My guest is Margaret Kelleher, Professor and Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at University College Dublin (research profile:  https://people.ucd.ie/margaret.o.kelleher ). She is a board member of the Museum of Literature Ireland ( https://moli.…","meta_description":"In August 1882, a brutal mass murder in a remote valley in the west of Ireland shocked the world. At Maamtrasna, a family, the Joyces, were attacked in th…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3609,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/irish-history-podcast-778168/episodes/a-conspiracy-of-fear-silence-the-maamtrasna-murders/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/irish-history-podcast-778168/a-conspiracy-of-fear-silence-the-maamtrasna-murders.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}