Derry, Northern Ireland
Patricia Moore is a community activist and longtime Sinn Féin member from Derry, Northern Ireland, whose life has been shaped by the Troubles and the subsequent peace process. Raised in Derry during some of the most violent years of the conflict, she experienced military raids, street violence, and the daily realities of a divided society from an early age. At 17, she became involved in republican politics and later spent more than a year in prison after being detained during a mass arrest operation; the case against her ultimately collapsed when the key witness withdrew her testimony.
Moore describes prison as both a hardship and a place of political education, where solidarity among women prisoners and engagement with political debate deepened her commitment to social and political change. In the decades since, she has become a strong advocate for dialogue and reconciliation, working with former prisoners, loyalists, former British soldiers, and community groups across traditional divides. She has also participated in efforts to rebuild trust in public institutions and encourage nonviolent civic engagement.
Today, Moore speaks openly about the human cost of conflict while emphasizing the importance of conversation, accountability, and cooperation. She remains committed to building what she describes as “a new Ireland for everybody”—one based on equality, respect, and shared opportunity across communities.
Derry, Northern Ireland
“I have sat with ex-British soldiers, I spoke to them about their experiences, I’ve sat with loyalists, ex-prisoners, spoke to them about their experiences… We truly believed that the poverty, the no jobs was totally just on our side. There wasn’t. There was poverty also on their side and we didn’t know that.”
On growing up during the conflict:
“We grew up with maybe three o’clock in the morning, half three in the morning with the front door being banged and practically put in on top of the hall and the British Army would come in and raid the house.
Me and my two brothers and younger sister would have been all put into one room and the door would have been held tight. We weren’t allowed out and the British Army went round and practically wrecked the house.
The first time it happened, because you’re young, you were terrified. You see these strange men in your house with guns and you don’t understand what’s going on. But as time went on, it became normal to us.
We actually thought, this is just a normal thing to happen. We were used to bombs going off. We were used to seeing men and women being stopped in the street and searched by the British Army.
Going to school, if a gun battle started, we knew to find shelter and lie down. When the combat was over, we got up and went on to school. It was just like a normal day.”
On life in prison:
“There was a solidarity because you were all experiencing the same thing.
We all took turns. One week I might have been cleaning the showers, next week could be in the kitchen, but we all done that.
We didn’t sit about dwelling.
We got up every morning, had breakfast, cleaned the cells, and then we were on the wing together.
We walked around the yard. We chatted to each other about what was happening outside politically.
Everybody shared the food parcels.
We would have made meals from what families brought in.
We watched the news. We read books. We debated. We talked and seen where we were going.
There was no such thing as just sitting about feeling sorry for yourself because that wasn’t going to do you mentally or physically any good.
People knit, people crocheted, people learned the Irish language, and a lot of them done degrees.
A lot of our ex-prisoners came out with first-class honours degrees.
Jail became not tough. The comradeship in jail was unbelievable with our women. I’ve been on a Republican wing and we knew all the other Republican women there.
And the comradeship, I mean, I have friendships now still going on, and that’s over 40 years ago with people I was in jail with.
You never lost that bond with them.”
On her near -death experience in prison:
“The doctor in Armagh jail told the governor that he was wiping his hands completely off me because I was dying and he wasn’t taking the responsibility for me dying.
I remember waking because he kept giving me morphine injections at this stage and I was just going in and out of consciousness.
I remember waking and vaguely hearing Father Hugh, who would be my parish priest, was there and he was praying, but I didn’t realize he was giving me the last rites.
I didn’t find out until afterwards. Then he told me, ‘You were dying. I had to give you the last rites.’
Eventually they took me out because the doctor said, ‘She’s dying and I’m not taking the responsibility.’
I was taken to Craigavon Hospital and operated on twice. What had happened was a mass of cysts had burst in my ovaries and the pollution had gone right through my whole body.”
On discovering shared humanity:
“I have sat with ex-British soldiers. I spoke to them about their experiences. I’ve sat with loyalists, ex-prisoners, spoke to them about their experiences and I’ve sat with different groupings and you learn.
We truly believed that the poverty, the no jobs, was totally just on our side. There wasn’t.
There was poverty also on their side and we didn’t know that.
They believed that we were sitting the rich fat cats and we weren’t.
So when you got together and you sat down and talked, people started to realize that the exact same problems were affecting both communities.
Everything that we’re experiencing, they’re experiencing the same, and we have come together and we have tried to work together to make all the communities better.”
On the lessons of the peace process:
“People had enough of looking at young men, young women going to jail, houses being raided, young men and young women going to an empty cold grave.
That’s when the dialogue started to open and to me that was powerful.
I 100% support the peace process because we’ve learnt now that the only way that we’re going to move this on is through dialogue.
We have to sit down, we have to talk to each other, we have to look and see how we can make this country for everybody an equal country.
We want a new Ireland, but we want a new Ireland for everybody, that everybody’s equal, everybody’s suggestions are respected and everybody has an equal opportunity.”
To read the introduction to this series, follow this link.
The Troubles: Finding a Path Toward Healing in Northern Ireland
To listen to our podcast, follow this link or find us on the platform of your choice.
A Peace of My Mind on Buzzsprout
Credits:
Interview and photos: John Noltner
Field production: summer interns Kate West, Sawyer Garrison, and Kaitlin Imai
Audio engineering: Razik Saifullah