Dr Thomas Leahy

Publication

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Research

My previous research focuses on key aspects of the Northern Irish conflict and intelligence war between the Irish Republican Army and British state and politics in Northern Ireland since 1969.

My research experise are primarily on the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Fein since 1969, the N. Ireland conflict and peace process and conflict legacy process, and the contemporary politics of N.Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. 

Book

My first book The Intelligence War Against the IRA was published recently in paperback and hardback with Cambridge University Press. I suggest various reasons why British intelligence did not force the IRA into peace. The book has sold over 2,800 copies across the UK, Ireland and further afield since 2020.

My book was short-listed for the Royal Historical Society's Whitfield Prize in 2021 and won the Political Studies Association of Ireland's Brian Farrell Book Prize in 2021. 

Publications

Thomas Leahy, ''Rigorous Impartiality'? The UK Government, Amnesties and Northern Ireland Conflict Legacy, 1998-2022' in Laura McAtackney and Mairtin O Cathain (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the Northern Ireland Conflict and Peace (Oxon: Routledge, 2024), 31-49: https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-the-Northern-Ireland-Conflict-and-Peace/McAtackney-OCathain/p/book/9781032124001?srsltid=AfmBOoqInc8f4r6DrDx2t7BLwf6iG70MHJftP8uwzqE_f9Lrj0ISN6pK

Thomas Leahy & Eleanor Leah Williams, The ‘Unforgivable’?: Irish Republican Army (IRA) informers and dealing with Northern Ireland conflict legacy, 1969-2021’ in Intelligence & National Security (2022): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2022.2104000?scroll=top&needAccess=true 

The Intelligence War Against the IRA (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2020)

'The politics of Troubles memories in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, 1998 to 2018' in Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research (2019)

Thomas Leahy and Niall Ó Dochartaigh, ‘Citizenship on the ethnic frontier: nationality, migration and rights in Northern Ireland since 1920’, in Steven G. Ellis (ed.), Enfranchising Ireland?: Identity, Citizenship and State (Royal Irish Academy, 2018)

Thomas Leahy, 'The influence of informers and agents on Provisional Irish Republican Army military strategy and British state counter-insurgency strategy, 1976-1994', in Twentieth Century British History (2015) Volume 26, Issue 1, 122-146.

I use a range of interview, archival, memoir and other research methods in my research.

Current research projects include:

-IRA cessations and British withdrawal with Professor Niall Ó Dochartaigh (NUI Galway)

-The Irish state and dealing with conflict legacy

-Politics in and about Northern Ireland since 1998 (with Dr Jonathan Kirkup (Cardiff) and Dr Kevin Fahey (Swansea)).

Impact work

I am currently collaborating with colleagues and also external stakeholders in the UK, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland who participated or observed the Northern Irish conflict to ensure that my research achieves a significant impact beyond academia, particularly in relation to debates about dealing with conflict-legacy on the island of Ireland.

I have received funding for impact and research from the Political Studies Association UK, Economic and Social Research Council, the Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Government of Ireland Fellowship, the Scouloudi Foundation, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Reconciliation Fund, Cardiff University and King’s College London.

Currently, I am investigating the role of the Irish state in dealing with conflict legacy on the island of Ireland. I engage with victims/survivors, political parties north and south, alongside British and Irish governments and security forces on this topic.

Impact work has included presenting my research to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in June 2019: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/joint_committee_on_the_implementation_of_the_good_friday_agreement/2019-06-20/3/

Media contributions

My research has been reviewed in various media outlets including BBC News after N.Ireland's elections in 2022. I have also discussed my work in multiple media outles including the examples below:

-Radio discussion about my Intelligence War Against the IRA book on RTE History Hour (December 2020) - https://www.rte.ie/radio1/the-history-show/podcasts/

- 'British intelligence did not force the IRA into peace', Irish Times, 12 June 2020

-'Did British intelligence force the IRA into peace?', RTÉ Brainstorm, 12 February 2020

-'Irish Government urged to investigate Troubles Killings' in the Republic', Belfast Telegraph, 20 June 2019

Teaching

Undergraduate level

-Final-year undergraduate, 'Bombs, Bullets and Ballot Boxes: The Northern Ireland Conflict'

Masters

-Conflict and Peace: Northern Ireland, 1969 to 2020 (IR masters students)

-Politics in and about Northern Ireland since 1998 (with Dr Jonathan Kirkup) (Politics and Public Policy and Welsh Politics students)

-Themes and Debates in Political Research Methods (with Dr Nye Davies) (Politics and Public Policy Masters). 

I have supervised over twenty-five undergraduate and masters students for their dissertations.

Phd

I supervise three PhD students who research locally the IRA's bombing campaign, North-South Irish political relations since 1998 and target killings including in Russia/Chechyna, Israel/Palestine and N.Ireland. 

Daniel Chesse completed their PhD on the Ulster Defence Regiment under my supervision in 2024.  

I am happy to supervise research students in the following areas:

• Any aspects of the Northern Ireland conflict and peace process.
• Northern Irish politics since 1969 (including contemporary themes).
• Dealing with the past and post-conflict reconciliation in relation to Northern Ireland or in comparison with Northern Ireland.
• The intelligence war in Northern Ireland or in comparison with Northern Ireland.
• Peace processes and negotiations to end small-scale conflicts in relation to Northern Ireland or in comparison with Northern Ireland.
• British-Irish relations.
• Irish Republicanism (IRA and/or Sinn Fein).
• British or Irish politics topics that interact with Irish Republicanism or N. Irish politics too. 

Biography

Education and qualifications:

2020 - Promoted to Senior Lecturer.

2019- Higher Education Academy, Fellow.

2015 – History PhD, King's College London.

2011 – Master of Research in Modern History (Distinction), King's College London.

2010 – BA (honours) History (First-class), King's College London

Honours and awards

2024 - Awarded a Royal Historical Society Grant for research related to Irish Republicanism. 

2024 - Awarded a further GW4 grant for the 'Island of Ireland Contemporary History and Politics' network. Includes publicly accessible events and videos with academics and guests with experience of the conflict in and abouts NI. 

2023 - Awarded a GW4 grant with colleagues in Bristol, Bath, Cardiff and Exeter Universities to create a new academic network on 'The Island of Ireland's Contemporary History and Politics'. 

2022 - Awarded a British Academy/Royal Irish Academy Funding Grant for research on comparative abstentionism. 

2021 - My book Intelligence War Against the IRA was awarded the Political Studies Association of Ireland's Brian Farrell Book Prize. 

2021 - My book Intelligence War Against the IRA has been shortlisted for the Royal Historical Society's Whitfield Prize.

2021 - Certification of commendation from The Learned Society of Wales as part of their Dillwyn Medal Award Panel for Early Career Researchers, May 2021.

2020 - Political Studies Association UK Research and Development Funding (with Dr Kirkup and Dr Fahey).

2019 - Irish Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation grant for impact research.

2019 - Irish Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation grant for the Irish Historians in Britain Conference (2021)

2016-2018 – Economic and Social Research Council impact initiator and accelerator account (with Dr Huw Bennett)

2016-17 – Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow at the National University of Ireland Galway, Republic of Ireland.

2016 – Scouloudi historical research award, London.

2014 - Political Studies Association Ireland postgraduate bursary award to present at their annual conference in Galway, Ireland.

2013 – King's College London continuation scholarship for PhD studies, London.

2011 – The Worshipful Company of Bowyer's best MA dissertation prize on a military historical theme, King's College London.

Professional memberships

• Editorial Board Member for the Irish Political Studies Journal. 
• Co-founder of the Island of Ireland Contemporary History and Politics Network. 
• Member of the Political Studies Association Ireland.
• Member of the Political Studies Association.
• Member of the European Consortium of Political Research Political Violence Section.
• Member of the British International Studies Association.
• Member of the Secrecy and Ignorance Network (SPIN) with GW4 partner institutions.

Academic positions

I was an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow until September 2017 at the National University of Ireland in Galway, Republic of Ireland. In 2016, I worked for Cardiff University and taught a third-year module on the Northern Ireland conflict. I was awarded my History PhD at King's College London in September 2015.

Speaking engagements

I have presented my research regularly at various conferences, institutions and events including the Political Studies Association of Ireland, UK Political Studies Association, European Consortium of Political Research, Oxford University, Trinity College Dublin, Galway University, The Divided Societies Conference in Dubrovnik, Irish Historians Association, Irish Historians in Britain conference. I co-hosted the Irish Historians in Britain conference and Peacebuilding conferences in 2022 and 2025 respectively at Cardiff University. 

I regularly contribute to media outlets and online publications and podcasts including: BBC News, RTE, The Irish Times, The Belfast Telegraph, Trasna Na Tire history talks online. I'm happy to be contacted about media opportunities. 

Committees and reviewing

-Editoral Board of the Irish Political Studies Journal. 

-Grant reviewer for the Leverhulme Trust. 

-ESRC reviewer Grant

-Grant reviewer for the AHRC

-Peer reviewer for Irish Political Studies

Supervisions

I am happy to supervise research students in the following areas:

• Any aspects of the Northern Ireland conflict and peace process.
• Northern Irish politics since 1969 (including contemporary themes)
• Dealing with the past and post-conflict reconciliation in relation to Northern Ireland or in comparison with Northern Ireland.
• The intelligence war in Northern Ireland or in comparison with Northern Ireland.
• Peace processes and negotiations to end small-scale conflicts in relation to Northern Ireland or in comparison with Northern Ireland.
• British-Irish relations.
• Irish Republicanism (Sinn Fein and/or the IRA)