About this episode

This episode discusses the controversial case of Maura Lyons, a Catholic girl who converted to Free Presbyterianism and was associated with Rev Ian Paisley.

The Rev Ian Paisley rose to prominence as the face of hardline unionism but the first time some would have heard of him would have been in connection with Maura Lyons. In 1956, the west Belfast teenager was smuggled to Scotland by members of the Free Presbyterian Church. She was a 15-year-old Catholic girl who converted to Free Presbyterianism, in the face of the strong objections of her family. They accused the Rev Ian Paisley of “abduction”. At one point, he gathered his supporters in the Ulster Hall to listen to a recording of Maura’s voice at the Ulster Hall, renouncing her Catholic faith as a “religion of fear and dread”. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by journalist Malachi O’Doherty, who grew up in west Belfast.   This episode was originally released in October 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Ciarán Dunbar

Guest: Malachi O’Doherty

Topics covered

• unionism
• religion
• abduction
• conversion
• Belfast history

Keywords

• Maura Lyons
• Rev Ian Paisley
• Free Presbyterian Church
• abduction
• Belfast
• conversion
• Catholic
• unionism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Free Presbyterian Church

Places: west Belfast, Scotland

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