His father Stephen was a member of the IRA and had been one of Michael Collins' "Twelve Apostles", who were responsible for the deaths of several British intelligence officers during the Irish War of Independence.
In 1952, Behan was arrested in Dublin for leading a civil disobedience campaign in protest against the ruling government's failure to tackle unemployment and other critical economic issues.
Whilst living with MacDiarmid, Behan became involved in what is now known as the "Scottish Republican Army", channelling arms from the IRA with whom he had historical links, to the SRA.
The school ran courses every year through most of the 1970s and was a tribute to Behan's belief that the troubles in Northern Ireland would be resolved only by dialogue and respect.
Behan was a self-educated man whose intellect was such that he numbered many respected thinkers among his friends including the likes of Hugh MacDiarmid the Scots poet with whom he lived for three years, Louis MacNeice who became for a time a writing partner – mostly for the BBC overseas program and H. A. L. Craig the screenwriter who produced the script for the film Waterloo.
Through relationships with various people in the music industry including Phil Solomon (one of the owners of Radio Caroline), Behan found himself to be often involved in helping performing artists (e.g.
Many of his songs were very popular in Ireland and among the Irish living in Britain and elsewhere, especially "The Patriot Game", "McAlpine's Fusiliers" (originally written by Martin Henry[1] but adapted by Behan), "Avondale", and "Liverpool Lou".
In 1958, he released The Singing Streets: Childhood Memories of Ireland and Scotland on Folkways Records along with fellow folksinger Ewan MacColl with whom he collaborated for a number of years.
Behan, who was unequivocal in the defence of his copyright, publicly accused Bob Dylan of plagiarising "The Patriot Game" in writing his own "With God on Our Side".
[2] In 2009 The Patriot Game from Easter Week and After: Songs of the IRA originally issued by Topic in 1960 was included in their 70-year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten as track twenty-two on the third CD.
In a well-publicised interview, John Lennon dismissed the 1960s folk scene in his own country, describing it as "College students with pints of beer going hay-nonny nonny" but in the same breath, he praised Behan, from neighbouring Ireland, whom he said he liked.