Ed Moloney

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Edward "Ed" Moloney is an Irish journalist and author.

He is best known for his coverage of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and particularly the activities of the Provisional IRA. He served as Northern Ireland editor for the Irish Times and subsequently for the Sunday Tribune. He is currently living and working in New York. His first book was biography of controversial unionist leader Ian Paisley. In 2002 he published a best selling history of the Provisional IRA, A Secret History of the IRA. He book has been widely praised as the first "insider" account of the IRA, as it draws heavily from Moloney's personal contacts within the organisation.

Moloney's book presents the startling thesis that the leadership of Sinn Fein, most notably Gerry Adams, and the British government had been negotiating an end of the conflict in Northern Ireland since the mid 1980s and that the IRA campaign up until the 1994 ceasefire was being gradually wound down. Moloney also strongly implies, but does not directly say, that the IRA was penetrated at senior levels by British informers and spies and this was partly responsible for the end of its armed campaign.