Nenagh Historian launches new Podcast
Looking through the ‘eyes of the guards’
By Anna Powell
Nenagh’s Dr John Reynolds has launched a new podcast series along with his co-host, writer Helen Moorhouse, called Póilíní. This podcast will be looking at Irish history through the ‘eyes of the guards’ and will be released every Thursday on various streaming platforms.
As explained by former guard and local historian, Dr John Reynolds this podcast will be of interest to various cohorts of people. “It's interesting stories about people but seen through the eyes of the police and how things are investigated; how policing actually operates because I think at times it’s a mystery to people,” he told the Nenagh Guardian.
A former Garda’s take on historical cases
Dr John Reynolds served as a member of An Garda Síochana for 40 years. Throughout his career, he worked in surveillance, serious crime investigations, disaster victim identification and frontline emergency dispatch. After mandatory retirement at 60, Mr Reynolds has founded the Garda Museum and served as chief coordinator for the Garda centenary.
As outlined by Mr Reynolds, this experience of working in the guards brings a unique perspective to the podcast.
“It kind of gives it maybe a bit of a unique perspective that I was a serving police officer for so long when I look at these cases, and then I also have my historian's hat on as well. In the guards, you had to be meticulous about detail and have multiple sources to back things up," he remarked.
“I might hear a wonderful story, but I have to find the original documents and see where it leads,” he said. “Policing experience is great to have as a historian as well because I tend to not believe anything until I can find the evidence for it.”
The Human Side of Stories
The podcast is not intended to be heavy, hard-core history. He commented: "It's more just interesting stories about people and about incidents that took place. My experience of being in the guards, you are dealing with people, their difficulties and their problems.
“Some of the stories for example, would not have ever went to court, so they are not really public stories. I’m interested in that angle about the people element of these particular stories, the highs and the lows,” he said.
The Póilíní Podcast
Alongside sharing interesting stories of Irish history, this podcast will have a lot of information to offer its listeners.
“The plan is to have new episodes available every Thursday on Apple and Spotify and through that then, you can find the website that has the show notes, which has further information,” highlighted Mr Reynolds.
“We are also going to put up an interactive map. As we do episodes, there will be pins on the map as to where we are talking about. The plan is to cover the entire country and some other countries with stories on Irish policing or Irish related policing,” he explained.
Historical stories from Tipperary will also be featured in the podcast.
“Organised policing began in 1814. It began in South Tipperary. We are going to go back to 1814 and look at cases and also police forces that are long gone,” he highlighted.
Listener contributions welcome
Dr John Reynolds and his co-host, Helen Moorhouse, will be welcoming contributions from those who listen to their podcast.
“We are hoping to have a lot of interaction with listeners. Theres wonderful stories out there amongst families and amongst people, that I don’t know anything about at this stage, but if I put on my detective hat, if I get some information at all, I can go and research it,” he said, highlighting how listeners can use the website associated with the podcast to leave their contributions.