From Bomb to Ballot: The History of Sinn Féin
In 1981, ten young men starved themselves to death in a prison on the outskirts of Belfast.
They were all members of the Irish Republican Army, and had been protesting their right to be treated as political prisoners. Their deaths shocked the world.
The Hunger Strikes made martyrs of the young republican men who died and were the apex of a thirty year conflict in Ireland that – by its conclusion – had claimed the lives of 3,500 people, and gained a euphemism: The Troubles.
The strikes also marked the moment that a little-known nationalist fringe group named Sinn Féin was catapulted from obscurity into the mainstream.
Four decades later, Sinn Féin made history when it won the popular vote in the Ireland’s 2020 General Election and came within touching distance of taking power on both sides of the Irish border.
Now, with the country on the eve of another election, Sinn Féin should be riding high in the polls. Instead, they are bogged down in chaos and disorder.
Criticised for failing to come up with a coherent policy on immigration, and dogged by allegations of sexual abuse and internal cover-ups. Their election prospects look dubious, at best.
Whatever you think of them, Sinn Féin remain one of the most consequential political movements in recent history, and, more so than any other political party, their political fortunes remain irrevocably shaped by their past.
To understand Sinn Féin, you have to go back to their roots.
In this limited series launching on November 22, political editor John Lee, who has been covering Sinn Féin for three decades, explores the history of the conflict that came to be known as the Troubles to understand where Sinn Féin came from, and where it might be going.
He has spoken to key players from both sides of the Irish border, including current and former politicians, peace activists, former Provisional IRA members and ordinary civilians.
And he has asked them all... who are Sinn Féin, really?
Host: John Lee
Producers: Artemis Irvine and Bella Soames
Assistant Producer: Sally McLennan
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Sound Design: John Scott
Script Consultant: Liam Thompson
Episodes
7: Changed Utterly?
Gerry Adams stands down as the President of Sinn Fein and is replaced by Mary Lou McDonald, a middle-class Dubliner with no personal connection to the Troubles.
Sinn Fein achieves an historic result in the 2020 election and announces itself as Ireland’s main opposition party.
That’s until Dublin explodes into far-right riots and Sinn Fein’s uneasy coalition of voters unravels. And the party struggles to shake off other scandals – some historic, others more recent – that cast doubt on their fitness for government.
Host: John Lee
Producers: Artemis Irvine and Bella Soames
Assistant Producer: Sally McLennan
Sound Design: John Scott
Podcast Artwork: Lindsay Fagan
Script Consultant: Liam Thompson
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22/11/24•40m 12s
6: A Fragile Peace
In Omagh, a car bomb kills 29 people, including two unborn children. It is the biggest single atrocity of the Troubles and comes just four months after the Good Friday Agreement is signed.
The peace holds… but the Omagh Bomb shows that Pandora’s Box of paramilitary violence opened decades earlier will not be straightforward to close.
Nonetheless, a new generation of Sinn Fein activists – untouched by the violence of the previous decades – are climbing the party's ranks.
But even after the arrival of peace, Republican communities across Northern Ireland continue to distrust the state, often with harrowing consequences… as Mairia Cahill is to discover.
Host: John Lee
Producers: Artemis Irvine and Bella Soames
Assistant Producer: Sally McLennan
Sound Design: John Scott
Podcast Artwork: Lindsay Fagan
Script Consultant: Liam Thompson
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22/11/24•43m 3s
5: Call the Boys Off
The Provisional IRA end their ceasefire in spectacular fashion, and the scale of the bomb detonated in the middle of Canary Wharf sparks renewed attempts to end the Troubles.
Britain and Ireland have new Prime Ministers, who share a personal connection and a desire to get an agreement over the line, fast.
And.. behind closed doors, Monica McWilliams is forging connections with Sinn Fein’s women, and Labour Minister Paul Murphy is having fish and chips with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
The stage is set for an historic peace agreement.
Host: John Lee
Producers: Artemis Irvine and Bella Soames
Assistant Producer: Sally McLennan
Sound Design: John Scott
Podcast Artwork: Lindsay Fagan
Script Consultant: Liam Thompson
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22/11/24•36m 6s
4: The Spectaculars
Two IRA men – John Crawley and Martin Ferris – are caught with seven tons of ammunition on their boat, just off the coast of Kerry. They are sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Meanwhile, the IRA take their fight to the British mainland with renewed vigour. Bombs explode in Brighton, Hyde Park, and Manchester, killing thousands of innocent civilians and… nearly, Margaret Thatcher.
But, behind closed doors, Sinn Féin politicians and their British counterparts take the first, faltering steps towards peace.
A decade after his arrest, Martin Ferris is released from prison to a changed political landscape. He decides the time for armed struggle is over, and becomes a prominent Sinn Féin political activist.
All seven episodes of From Bomb to Ballot are available now.
Host: John Lee
Producers: Artemis Irvine and Bella Soames
Assistant Producer: Sally McLennan
Sound Design: John Scott
Podcast Artwork: Lindsay Fagan
Script Consultant: Liam Thompson
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22/11/24•37m 29s
3: Coffins
Ten young men starve themselves to death in a prison outside Belfast. One of them – Bobby Sands – is an elected MP. Their deaths bring widespread sympathy to the Republican cause and the Provisional IRA’s little-known political wing, Sinn Féin, is bolstered by increasing electoral success. Two years later – at the height of the hottest summer on record – Gerry Adams, widely believed to be a former leader in the IRA (something he denies), is elected to Westminster. Militant Irish nationalism has gone political.
All seven episodes of From Bomb to Ballot are available now.
Host: John Lee
Producers: Artemis Irvine and Bella Soames
Assistant Producer: Sally McLennan
Sound Design: John Scott
Podcast Artwork: Lindsay Fagan
Script Consultant: Liam Thompson
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22/11/24•31m 19s
2: Guerrilla War
The Provisional IRA run a disciplined and efficient operation and prove capable of bringing bloody war to the British Army. A cat and mouse game on the streets of Belfast and Derry intensifies with each passing week, each side becoming further entrenched in a brutal cycle of violence that will define the 1970s.
And, at a pub in Armagh, near the Irish border, a young British army officer called Robert Nairac disappears. He will never be seen again.
All seven episodes of From Bomb to Ballot are available now.
Host: John Lee
Producers: Artemis Irvine and Bella Soames
Assistant Producer: Sally McLennan
Sound Design: John Scott
Podcast Artwork: Lindsay Fagan
Script Consultant: Liam Thompson
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22/11/24•32m 23s
1: Power and Protest
In 1969, violence explodes across Northern Ireland.
Catholics, who were treated as second-class citizens by the Protestant majority, march in protest and are beaten back by the country’s sectarian police force. The British Army arrives to restore order, but the violence escalates further into guerrilla war, led by a revived Irish Republican Army. The Troubles have begun.
All seven episodes of From Bomb to Ballot are available now.
Host: John Lee
Producers: Artemis Irvine and Bella Soames
Assistant Producer: Sally McLennan
Sound Design: John Scott
Podcast Artwork: Lindsay Fagan
Script Consultant: Liam Thompson
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
22/11/24•35m 4s
Introducing... From Bomb to Ballot
Sinn Féin, the party that emerged as the political wing of the Provisional IRA, made history when it won the popular vote in the Ireland’s 2020 General Election and came within touching distance of taking power on both sides of the Irish border.
Whatever you think of them, Sinn Féin remain one of the most consequential political movements in recent history, and, more so than any other political party, their political fortunes remain irrevocably shaped by their past. To understand Sinn Féin, you have to go back to their roots.
With Ireland on the eve of another General Election, there has never been a more timely moment to do so.
In this limited series launching on November 22, political editor John Lee, who has been covering Sinn Féin for three decades, explores the history of the conflict that came to be known as the Troubles to understand where Sinn Féin came from, and where it might be going.
He has spoken to key players from both sides of the Irish border, including current and former politicians, peace activists, former Provisional IRA members and ordinary civilians.
And he has asked them all... who are Sinn Féin, really?
All seven episodes will be available on Friday November 22, just follow From Bomb to Ballot wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: John Lee
Producers: Artemis Irvine and Bella Soames
Assistant Producer: Sally McLennan
Sound Design: John Scott
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Podcast Artwork: Lindsay Fagan
Script Consultant: Liam Thompson
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
04/11/24•3m 44s
