On this episode of the Irish History Show we were joined by Gerard Shannon to discuss his new biography of Rory O’Connor.

Rory O’Connor was an Irish Republican who was Director of Engineering for the IRA in the Irish War of Independence. O’Connor opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and was chairman of the Republican military council that became the Anti-Treaty IRA in March 1922. He was the main spokesman for the Republican side in the lead-up to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in June of that year. On 30 June, O’Connor was taken prisoner at the conclusion of the attack by Free State forces on the Four Courts in Dublin. On 8 December 1922, he was executed along with three other senior members of the IRA Four Courts garrison. All four men were executed without trial or court martial.

Gerard Shannon is a historian from Skerries in Co. Dublin. In 2019 he wrote his MA thesis, for the School of History and Geography in Dublin City University, on Liam Lynch. His biography of Lynch, Liam Lynch: To Declare a Republic, was published in 2023. Gerard has also written numerous articles for the Irish Story website.

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Intro / Outro music “Sliabh” from Aislinn. Licensed under creative commons from the free music archive.