Father Patrick Ryan (1930–2025), dubbed the "Terror Priest" by the British press, was an Irish Catholic priest who allegedly secretly functioned as a major financial and logistical fundraiser for the Provisional IRA during the Troubles.
In 1988, Ryan was accused of involvement in Provisional IRA activity and was the subject of two unsuccessful extradition requests by the British Government.
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Ryan denied the accusation in an interview with The Tipperary Star, saying that he had raised money both inside and outside Europe for victims on the nationalist side in the Troubles of Northern Ireland, but insisted that he had "never bought explosives for the IRA or anybody else", and had never been requested by the paramilitary group to do so.
However, in 2019 he finally confessed to being involved with the IRA.
In an interview with the BBC broadcast in 2019, Ryan admitted that he was "one hundred per cent" involved in IRA bomb-making.[2]
In IRA circles he was known as "The Padre"; in the British press he was called "the Devil's Disciple" and the "Terror Priest".
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