The Golden Age of Irish Smuggling
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It was basically like online shopping. They were prepared to fight it out with the authorities on the beaches. Finn Dwyer is organizing a smuggling run next Saturday.
What sparked the idea to explore Ireland’s 18th‑century smuggling boom?
Hello and welcome to the Irish History Podcast. My name is Finn Dwire, and sadly it's not true, I'm not organising a smuggling run next Saturday, but this episode explores the golden age of smuggling in Ireland. Now, smuggling is not something I'd ever really have thought about in relation to Irish history, but a few months back I interviewed James Doherty, my guest in today's show, but then we were talking about the Plans to invade Ireland in World War II, and at the end of the conversation, James mentioned casually that he was doing research on this topic of smuggling in Ireland, and I asked him to come back on the show and talk to me about us. So last week, James and I met up on Tremor Beach on the south coast.
Today, Tremor is a holiday destination, the funfair was being taken down for the winter behind us as James James shared his research with me on how Tremor Bay was one of the smuggling hotspots in Ireland back in the 18th century. Now, to be honest, the history of smuggling that he shared is not what I ever would have imagined. Yes, there's all the daring do we would expect with this, but in many ways, it was a business driven by the wider economy. A lot of these people were in many ways, as James says, pretty savvy businessmen. And perhaps the most surprising thing of all for me was the way it was organized, because smuggling could often be a community enterprise. Price, it's very very different from the way I would have imagined, far more important to the economy in the past than I would have thought, and a fascinating part of Irish history.
Indeed, towards the end of the interview, James and I broadened out our discussion to talk about why smuggling and indeed more generally maritime history doesn't feature more in the history of Ireland. Now, before we start, I'll properly introduce James, as you might Remember from our last conversation, he's a historian based here in Waterford with interests in military history and the history of smuggling in Ireland in the 18th and 19th century. And finally, before we head off to sea, I want to flag that the supporters tour is coming up on Saturday, the 26th of September. I mentioned this in a few episodes now, but basically, supporters of the show on Patreon and Acast Plus are going to join. Join me as we head into the Wicklow Mountains to explore thousands of years of history.
Now supporters have first dibs. So if you're a supporter of the show and listening to this and want to come along, please get in touch and let me know. As I say there's a few spots left. And if the bus isn't full, by next week I will open it up to everyone else. So hopefully we'll meet up in real life on September the 26th for what's going to be a great day out. Sound on this episode is by Kate Dunley.
Smuggling is one of those words that it conjures up imagery from all across the world. But can you explain to listeners what were people smuggling in and out of Ireland in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and what was driving it? Because as we're gonna see it was a pretty big industry at the time.
Yeah, definitely Finn. It was a huge industry I think. we underestimate exactly how important and how big an industry was. Figures vary, but they they say one third of all luxury goods in Ireland in in that time period were brought in illicitly or smuggled into the country. So w why was this happening and and what drove it? I suppose you go back to the history of taxation, the minute a man invents a tax, someone will strive to avoid it. And it's really it's a base human instinct that if I impose a levy, a tariff, a tax, or if I make trade somewhat difficult for people, whether it's expenses or, you know, uh legal uh difficulties, other people will then go out of their way to avoid it and profit by it.
So when you look at smuggling really what you see is the movement of goods, now, they can be contraband of what we think today like drugs, etc.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:20
2
What sparked the idea to explore Ireland’s 18th‑century smuggling boom?
0:20–4:50
3
Why did British taxation and mercantilist policies drive a massive smuggling trade?
4:50–10:35
4
What kinds of goods – from wool to luxury tea and tobacco – were being moved?
10:35–16:01
5
How did entire coastal villages organize and finance smuggling runs?
16:01–22:14
6
What did a typical smuggling run look like – routes, ships, and community roles?
22:14–26:04
7
How did the British‑Irish Coast Guard and naval forces try to stop the trade?
26:04–28:19
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Irish History Podcast
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