Dublin and Monaghan Bombings
Encyclopedia
The Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 were a series of car bomb
ings in Dublin and Monaghan
in the Republic of Ireland
. The attacks killed 33 civilians and wounded almost 300 – the highest number of casualties in any single day during the conflict known as The Troubles
.
A loyalist
paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) – who had their status as a prescribed organisation in the United Kingdom
lifted by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Merlyn Rees the previous month – claimed responsibility for the bombings in 1993. There are allegations, however, that British security forces colluded in the bombings. These allegations are contested by both the British Government
and the UVF. The attacks occurred during the Ulster Workers' Council Strike
, which was a general strike
called by hard-line loyalists and unionists
in Northern Ireland
, who were opposed to the moderates' Sunningdale Agreement
and the short-lived Northern Ireland Assembly
, that collapsed on 28 May. Specifically, the strikers opposed the sharing of political power with nationalists
, and the proposed greater role for the Republic of Ireland in the governance of Northern Ireland.
No warnings were given before the bombs exploded. Three exploded in Dublin during rush hour
(killing 26 people and an unborn child) and one exploded in Monaghan ninety minutes later (killing 7 people). Most of the victims were young women, although the ages of the dead ranged from five months to 80 years.
No-one has ever been charged with the attacks, which have been described by the Oireachtas
Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality as an act of international terrorism with allegations of the involvement of British security forces.
At approximately 17:30 on Friday 17 May 1974, without prior warning, three car bombs exploded almost simultaneously in Dublin's city centre at Parnell Street
, Talbot Street
, and South Leinster Street during rush-hour. The bombs were constructed so well that one hundred per cent of each bomb exploded upon detonation. Twenty-three persons died in these explosions and three others died as a result of injuries over the following few days and weeks. Many of the dead were young women originally from rural Irish towns employed in the civil service
. An entire family from central Dublin was killed. Two of the victims were foreign nationals: an Italian man, and a French Jewish woman whose family had survived the Holocaust
. Most of the bodies were blasted beyond recognition, including one which was decapitated. There were approximately 300 people injured, many of them horrifically mutilated.
First bomb
The first of the three Dublin car bombs went off at approximately 17:28, in a parking bay outside the Welcome Inn pub and Barry's Supermarket and close to a petrol station, in Parnell Street near its southwestern intersection with Marlborough Street. Shop fronts were blown out, cars were destroyed, and bodies were strewn about in all directions. The bomb car was a metallic green 1970 model Hillman Avenger
registration number DIA 4063. It had been facing in the direction of O'Connell Street
, Dublin's main thoroughfare. This car, like the other two bomb cars, retained its original registration numbers. It had been hijacked in Belfast that morning. Ten people were killed in this explosion, including two infant girls and their parents, and a World War I
veteran. Many others, including a teenaged petrol-pump attendant, were severely injured. The force of the explosion had hurled a brown Mini
that had been parked behind the Avenger onto the pavement outside the Welcome Inn pub at a right angle.
Second bomb
The second of the Dublin car bombs went off at approximately 17:30 at number 18 Talbot Street near the northwestern Lower Gardiner Street intersection, outside O'Neill's shoe shop opposite Guineys
department store. The bomb car was a metallic blue mink Ford Escort registration number 1385 WZ. It had been stolen that morning in the docks area of Belfast. Twelve people were killed outright in this explosion, and another two died over the following days and weeks. Thirteen of the fourteen victims were women, including one who was nine months pregnant. Buildings and vehicles on both sides of the street in the vicinity of the blast were badly damaged. People were struck by shrapnel, flying glass, parts of the destroyed bomb car, and debris; some were hurled through the windows of ruined shop fronts. Talbot Street was described as the worst hit area as it was more crowded than usual due to a corporation bus strike. Several bodies lay in the street for half an hour as ambulances struggled to get through traffic jams. At least four bodies were found on the pavement just outside Guineys. The bodies of the victims, terribly mutilated, were covered by newspapers until they were removed from the scene. One young woman who had been beside the bomb car when it exploded was decapitated; the only clue to her sex was the pair of brown platform boots she was wearing.
Third bomb
The third bomb went off at approximately 17:32 in South Leinster Street near the railings of Trinity College, Dublin
. Two women were killed instantly in that explosion; they had been very close to the epicentre of the blast. The bomb car was a blue Austin 1800 Maxi registration number HOI 2487; like the Parnell Street car, it had been hijacked in Belfast that same morning from a taxi company. Dental students from Trinity College rushed to the scene to give first-aid to the injured.
, just south of the border with Northern Ireland. The car containing the device was a green 1966 model Hillman Minx registration number 6583 OZ; it had been stolen from a Portadown
car park several hours before. As in Dublin, no warning had been given. This bomb killed five people initially, and another two died in the following weeks. There is evidence that the car bomb was parked five minutes before the explosion. The bomb site which was located about 300–400 yards from the Garda station, was preserved by a roster of eight Gardaí from 19:00 17 May until 14:30 19 May, at which time the technical examination of the area had been completed. Forensic analysis of the metal fragments taken from the site suggested that the bomb had been in a beer barrel or similar container.
, who lost his daughter, son-in-law, and two infant granddaughters in the Parnell Street explosion, described the scene inside Dublin's city morgue as having been like a "slaughterhouse", with workers "putting arms and legs together to make up a body".
At 18:00, after all of the dead and injured had been removed, Garda Síochána
officers cordoned off the three bomb sites in Dublin. Fifteen minutes earlier, at 17:45, the orders were given to call out national cordons. These were aimed at preventing the bombers from crossing the border into Northern Ireland
. Garda officers were sent to Connolly Station, Busaras, Dublin Airport
, the B&I car ferry port, and the mail boat at Dun Laoghaire
. At 18:28, the Dublin-Belfast train was stopped at Dundalk
and searched by a team of 18 Gardaí led by an inspector. Over the course of the evening of 17 May, Gardaí from the Ballistics, Photography, Mappings, and Fingerprints section visited the three bomb sites in Dublin and examined the debris.
Some accounts give a total of 34 or 35 dead from the four bombings: 34 by including the unborn child of victim, Colette Doherty, who was nine months pregnant; and 35 by including the later still-born
child of Edward and Martha O'Neill. Edward was killed outright in Parnell Street. Martha O'Neill was not caught up in the attack, although two of their children were seriously injured in the bombing; one of them, a four-year-old boy, suffered severe facial injuries. The 22 months-old daughter of Colette Doherty survived the Talbot Street blast; she was found wandering about near the bomb site, relatively unharmed. Six weeks after the bombings, the elderly mother of Thomas Campbell, who was killed instantly in the Monaghan bombing, allegedly died of the shock she received at the death of her son.
Due to the bombings, the Irish Army
withdrew its troops from all UN
peacekeeping
missions for several years.
(UDA) and the Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) Strike Committee, said:
Party leaders in the Dáil (Irish parliament), sitting about 300 metres from the site of the South Leinster Street blast, commented on the following Monday. Taoiseach
Liam Cosgrave
recorded his disgust, considering further that –
The opposition leader Jack Lynch
was sickened by the "cruel" events, and also widened the question of blame –
According to a Dublin newspaper in 2005, the then British Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, Arthur Galsworthy, noted the reactions in Dublin immediately after the bombings:
The newspaper noted that "despite these feelings of schadenfreude
", Galsworthy continued,
television station
Yorkshire Television
broadcast, as part of First Tuesday series, the documentary
Hidden Hand: The Forgotten Massacre, a programme on the bombings in co-operation with a number of retired officers in An Garda Síochána, the police force of the Republic of Ireland. The programme claimed that the bombings were the work of the UVF. It named a number of UVF members whom it said had taken part in the bombings, and who had since been killed during the Troubles. These included Billy Hanna
, Robert McConnell, Harris Boyle
, and a key loyalist, whom the producers referred to as "the Jackal". The latter was later identified as Robin Jackson
, who was still living at the time of the broadcasting, and the programme's producers had feared an accusation of libel. William "Frenchie" Marchant
was named as the leader of the Belfast UVF gang known as "Freddie and the Dreamers", which had hijacked the cars used in the bombings. Hidden Hand also claimed, however, that loyalist paramilitaries were aided by British security force members. Forensic examination seemed to suggest that the Dublin bombs had been built with some sophistication. Garda officers claimed that the UVF had been assisted by elements in the British security forces. Subsequently, a number of questions were asked in the Dáil, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland, about responsibility for the massacre. The government ordered the Gardaí to assess the information in the television programme.
The UVF claimed that:
On 23 July 1997, the group lobbied the European Parliament
. MEPs from many countries supported a call for the release of files relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. On 27 August of that year, however, an Irish court declined to order the release of the files.
In August 1999, Irish Victims Commissioner, John Wilson, reported on the demand for a public inquiry. He proposed a judicial inquiry, held in private.
In December 1999, the Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern
, appointed Mr Justice Liam Hamilton to undertake a thorough examination of the bombings, in a private inquiry. Justice for the Forgotten agreed to co-operate. The inquiry began work early in 2000. In October 2000, Mr Justice Henry Barron was appointed to succeed Mr Justice Hamilton. Relatives then campaigned for publication of Mr Justice Barron's initial report. It was presented to the Taoiseach on 29 October 2003, and published with five names redacted on 10 December 2003.
The Irish government demanded that the British government hand over official documents relating to the bombings, that were denied to the Barron Inquiry. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
, John Reid, delivered a 16-page letter, but refused to hand over original documentation, claiming security concerns, despite the passage of time. Barron observed:
On 16 February 2005, the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights recommended that the Irish Government bring a case before the European Court of Human Rights
to force the UK Government to hold a public inquiry into the bombings. In June 2005, the Irish Government threatened to bring the British government to the European Court of Justice
, to force the release the files on the bombings.
It is acknowledged that, after 30 years, many witnesses, initial investigators and suspects are dead.
The publication of the report caused a sensation in Ireland, as demonstrated by political and media reaction. It is generally agreed that the report raised more questions than it answered and that it opened up new avenues of inquiry.
A subsequent report by Henry Barron into the Miami Showband massacre, the killing of Seamus Ludlow, and the bombing of Keys Tavern found evidence of extensive collusion with the same mainly UVF personnel, amounting to "international terrorism" on the part of British forces.
in May 2005 under Patrick McEntee. The McEntee Enquiry is tasked to investigate the following:
The remit of the McEntee Commission was extended on a number of occasions. The report was handed to the Irish government on 12 March 2007. Publication was expected by the end of March 2007 On 3 April 2007, the Irish government announced that the Report would be published on 4 April 2007 at 5pm, after distribution to victims and to the families of those who had been killed by the bombs.
Then Assistant Commissioner with the Metropolitan (London) Police, John Stevens, required three inquiries, with powers of search, questioning and arrest. His offices within RUC
headquarters suffered an arson attack. Stevens noted under "Obstruction of my Enquiries":
Stevens stated that collusion with loyalist killers by British Army Intelligence and RUC Special Branch had taken place:
Barron reported:
The Report (2003) by Justice Barron also criticises the Garda investigation into the bombings. He criticised, in addition, the lack of urgency in pursuing the culprits shown by then Labour-Fine Gael party coalition government in Dublin. Barron noted, "The Government of the day showed little interest in the bombings. When information was given to them suggesting the British authorities had intelligence naming the bombers, this was not followed up." Barron went on to note that similar, though not as extensive information, "was given to the Gardaí by the RUC but there are no records of the Gardaí questioning the RUC as to the names of those so interned, or attempting to ascertain the nature of the intelligence which led to their being detained. And the report says there is also no record of Irish Army intelligence seeking further information from their British counterparts". Barron stated that Department of Justice files on the Dublin bombings were "missing in their entirety" and that no records were provided to Barron by the department. The Garda investigation ended prematurely. Barron found, "there was no single reason why the investigation ended".
An RUC officer reported by Gardaí to be "an excellent and honest policeman" who would have had good intelligence as to who was responsible for various loyalist bombings, gave evidence to the Inquiry. Barron noted:
and Billy McCaughey
, connected to those alleged to have carried out the bombings. These killings included:
According to Fred Holroyd
, Captain Robert Nairac
, acting under SAS orders, was involved in the killing of John Francis Green in the Republic of Ireland and in the Miami Showband killings
. John Weir supported the suggestion of Nairac's involvement in the Green assassination:
, the implication being that this was Nairac.
Susan McKay summarised Barron on the ballistic history point:
Robin Jackson, consistently linked with Nairac, was alleged to be involved in this illegal violence (the link was noted contemporaneously in 1975 – see Colin Wallace
section below).
suggestion that the bombings were carried out by militant UVF members opposed to meetings between UVF delegations and the Official and Provisional IRA, which had taken place earlier in 1974:
This view finds independent support in a letter from then British Army intelligence officer Colin Wallace to Tony Stoughton, Chief Information Officer of the British Army Information Service at Lisburn, on 14 August 1975:
In a further letter dated 30 September 1975, Wallace revealed that MI5 was trying to create a split in the UVF:
Barron noted that Wallace's 14 August 1975 letter was "strong evidence that the security forces in Northern Ireland had intelligence information which was not shared with the Garda investigation team."
Wallace also noted that:
Wallace then noted that investigation into the bombings was closed down with immediate effect a very short time after the bombings.
As with Fred Holroyd and John Weir, there were unsuccessful attempts to undermine Colin Wallace's credibility and evidence to the Inquiry. Between 1968 and 1975 Wallace had run the main psychological warfare, or 'psyops', department at British Army Headquarters in Lisburn, a task involving "dissemination of information and disinformation". In September 1974 Wallace refused to become involved in attempts by the security services to subvert British government policy. Wallace also discovered that at the Kincora Boys' Home a member of an "extreme loyalist organisation", William McGrath
, was involved with others in pedophile abuse. The home was not closed down. Wallace suspected that "the intelligence services were using the information to blackmail the extreme loyalist into helping them". Wallace made known his opposition. Wallace later attempted to expose security force involvement in events such as the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings, and attempts by MI5 to undermine "left wing organisations and individuals", including the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.
Barron notes that Wallace was then targeted by the same security services he had served. He was forced out of government service on a charge of attempting to pass a restricted document to a journalist, Robert Fisk. In 1980 he was charged with and then convicted of manslaughter. After his release from prison on parole in 1985, Wallace proclaimed his innocence. He later successfully overturned the conviction, which was quashed on 21 July 1996. Wallace was also paid £30,000 pounds sterling compensation (the maximum allowed) for unjust dismissal from government Service. His role within the British Army intelligence service had already been officially, though belatedly, acknowledged in 1990. Wallace was fully vindicated.
, who worked for MI6 during the 1970s in Northern Ireland. Holroyd argued that "the bombings were part of a pattern of collusion between elements of the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitaries."
Barron found that members of the Gardaí and of the RUC attempted to unfairly and unjustly undermine Holroyd's evidence.
Barron noted that:
Then Assistant Commissioner of the Gardaí, Edmund ('Ned') Garvey was said by Fred Holroyd to have met him and an RUC Officer at Garda headquarters in 1975. Holroyd named Garvey, and another Garda (codenamed, 'the badger'), as being on the "British side". Garvey later denied that the meeting took place. However, Justice Barron found: "The visit by Holroyd to Garda Headquarters unquestionably did take place, notwithstanding former Commissioner Garvey's inability to recall it". Barron further noted: "On the Northern side, there is conflicting evidence as to how, why and by whom the visit was arranged. Regrettably, Garda investigations have failed to uncover any documentary evidence of the visit, or to identify any of the officers involved in arranging it from the Southern side."
Edmund Garvey was dismissed by the incoming Fianna Fáil Government on 19 January 1978 without explanation, other than by stating that it no longer had confidence in him as Garda Commissioner.
unit was both exclusively Protestant and "orange" or unionist.
John Weir, a member of a different, though equally loyalist, RUC Special Patrol Group,
Furthermore:
In his report, Mr Justice Barron commented on John Weir's evidence: "The Inquiry agrees with the view of An Garda Siochana that Weir's allegations regarding the Dublin and Monaghan bombings must be treated with the utmost seriousness".
The RUC furnished the Gardaí with a report that attempted to undermine Weir's evidence. Barron found this RUC attempt to be highly inaccurate and to lack credibility.
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
ings in Dublin and Monaghan
Monaghan
Monaghan is the county town of County Monaghan in Ireland. Its population at the 2006 census stood at 7,811 . The town is located on the main road, the N2 road, from Dublin north to both Derry and Letterkenny.-Toponym:...
in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. The attacks killed 33 civilians and wounded almost 300 – the highest number of casualties in any single day during the conflict known as The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
.
A loyalist
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) – who had their status as a prescribed organisation in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
lifted by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, informally the Northern Ireland Secretary, is the principal secretary of state in the government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of...
Merlyn Rees the previous month – claimed responsibility for the bombings in 1993. There are allegations, however, that British security forces colluded in the bombings. These allegations are contested by both the British Government
Government of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Government is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government is led by the Prime Minister, who selects all the remaining Ministers...
and the UVF. The attacks occurred during the Ulster Workers' Council Strike
Ulster Workers' Council Strike
The Ulster Workers' Council strike was a general strike that took place in Northern Ireland between 15 May and 28 May 1974, during "The Troubles". The strike was called by loyalists and unionists who were against the Sunningdale Agreement, which had been signed in December 1973...
, which was a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
called by hard-line loyalists and unionists
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, who were opposed to the moderates' Sunningdale Agreement
Sunningdale Agreement
The Sunningdale Agreement was an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland. The Agreement was signed at the Civil Service College in Sunningdale Park located in Sunningdale, Berkshire, on 9 December 1973.Unionist opposition, violence and...
and the short-lived Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)
The Northern Ireland Assembly was a legislative assembly set up by the Government of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1973 to restore devolved government to Northern Ireland with the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive made up of unionists and nationalists....
, that collapsed on 28 May. Specifically, the strikers opposed the sharing of political power with nationalists
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
, and the proposed greater role for the Republic of Ireland in the governance of Northern Ireland.
No warnings were given before the bombs exploded. Three exploded in Dublin during rush hour
Rush hour
A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...
(killing 26 people and an unborn child) and one exploded in Monaghan ninety minutes later (killing 7 people). Most of the victims were young women, although the ages of the dead ranged from five months to 80 years.
No-one has ever been charged with the attacks, which have been described by the Oireachtas
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas , sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:*The President of Ireland*The two Houses of the Oireachtas :**Dáil Éireann...
Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality as an act of international terrorism with allegations of the involvement of British security forces.
Dublin
Parnell Street
Parnell Street is located on Dublin's Northside and runs from Capel Street in the west to Gardiner Street and Mountjoy Square in the east, and is at the north end of O'Connell Street, where it provides the south side of Parnell Square....
, Talbot Street
Talbot Street
Talbot Street is a city-centre street located on Dublin's Northside and is one of the principal shopping streets of Dublin, running from Connolly station and the IFSC at Amiens Street in the east to Marlborough Street in the west. The street is named after Charles Chetwynd, 3rd Earl of Talbot,...
, and South Leinster Street during rush-hour. The bombs were constructed so well that one hundred per cent of each bomb exploded upon detonation. Twenty-three persons died in these explosions and three others died as a result of injuries over the following few days and weeks. Many of the dead were young women originally from rural Irish towns employed in the civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
. An entire family from central Dublin was killed. Two of the victims were foreign nationals: an Italian man, and a French Jewish woman whose family had survived the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. Most of the bodies were blasted beyond recognition, including one which was decapitated. There were approximately 300 people injured, many of them horrifically mutilated.
First bomb
The first of the three Dublin car bombs went off at approximately 17:28, in a parking bay outside the Welcome Inn pub and Barry's Supermarket and close to a petrol station, in Parnell Street near its southwestern intersection with Marlborough Street. Shop fronts were blown out, cars were destroyed, and bodies were strewn about in all directions. The bomb car was a metallic green 1970 model Hillman Avenger
Hillman Avenger
The Hillman Avenger was a rear-wheel drive small family car originally manufactured under the Hillman marque by the Rootes Group from 1970–1976, and made by Chrysler Europe from 1976–1981 as the Chrysler Avenger and finally the Talbot Avenger...
registration number DIA 4063. It had been facing in the direction of O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street is Dublin's main thoroughfare. It measures 49 m in width at its southern end, 46 m at the north, and is 500 m in length...
, Dublin's main thoroughfare. This car, like the other two bomb cars, retained its original registration numbers. It had been hijacked in Belfast that morning. Ten people were killed in this explosion, including two infant girls and their parents, and a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran. Many others, including a teenaged petrol-pump attendant, were severely injured. The force of the explosion had hurled a brown Mini
Mini
The Mini is a small car that was made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered a British icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout influenced a generation of car-makers...
that had been parked behind the Avenger onto the pavement outside the Welcome Inn pub at a right angle.
Second bomb
The second of the Dublin car bombs went off at approximately 17:30 at number 18 Talbot Street near the northwestern Lower Gardiner Street intersection, outside O'Neill's shoe shop opposite Guineys
Guineys
Guineys is a discount department store chain in the Republic of Ireland with stores in Dublin, Limerick, Waterford, Castlebar, Tralee and Cork...
department store. The bomb car was a metallic blue mink Ford Escort registration number 1385 WZ. It had been stolen that morning in the docks area of Belfast. Twelve people were killed outright in this explosion, and another two died over the following days and weeks. Thirteen of the fourteen victims were women, including one who was nine months pregnant. Buildings and vehicles on both sides of the street in the vicinity of the blast were badly damaged. People were struck by shrapnel, flying glass, parts of the destroyed bomb car, and debris; some were hurled through the windows of ruined shop fronts. Talbot Street was described as the worst hit area as it was more crowded than usual due to a corporation bus strike. Several bodies lay in the street for half an hour as ambulances struggled to get through traffic jams. At least four bodies were found on the pavement just outside Guineys. The bodies of the victims, terribly mutilated, were covered by newspapers until they were removed from the scene. One young woman who had been beside the bomb car when it exploded was decapitated; the only clue to her sex was the pair of brown platform boots she was wearing.
Third bomb
The third bomb went off at approximately 17:32 in South Leinster Street near the railings of Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. Two women were killed instantly in that explosion; they had been very close to the epicentre of the blast. The bomb car was a blue Austin 1800 Maxi registration number HOI 2487; like the Parnell Street car, it had been hijacked in Belfast that same morning from a taxi company. Dental students from Trinity College rushed to the scene to give first-aid to the injured.
Monaghan
Ninety minutes later, at approximately 18:58, a fourth bomb (weighing 150 pounds) exploded outside Greacen's pub in North Road, MonaghanMonaghan
Monaghan is the county town of County Monaghan in Ireland. Its population at the 2006 census stood at 7,811 . The town is located on the main road, the N2 road, from Dublin north to both Derry and Letterkenny.-Toponym:...
, just south of the border with Northern Ireland. The car containing the device was a green 1966 model Hillman Minx registration number 6583 OZ; it had been stolen from a Portadown
Portadown
Portadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about 23 miles south-west of Belfast...
car park several hours before. As in Dublin, no warning had been given. This bomb killed five people initially, and another two died in the following weeks. There is evidence that the car bomb was parked five minutes before the explosion. The bomb site which was located about 300–400 yards from the Garda station, was preserved by a roster of eight Gardaí from 19:00 17 May until 14:30 19 May, at which time the technical examination of the area had been completed. Forensic analysis of the metal fragments taken from the site suggested that the bomb had been in a beer barrel or similar container.
Aftermath
Paddy Doyle of FinglasFinglas
-See also:* List of towns and villages in Ireland* List of abbeys and priories in Ireland...
, who lost his daughter, son-in-law, and two infant granddaughters in the Parnell Street explosion, described the scene inside Dublin's city morgue as having been like a "slaughterhouse", with workers "putting arms and legs together to make up a body".
At 18:00, after all of the dead and injured had been removed, Garda Síochána
Garda Síochána
, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...
officers cordoned off the three bomb sites in Dublin. Fifteen minutes earlier, at 17:45, the orders were given to call out national cordons. These were aimed at preventing the bombers from crossing the border into Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Garda officers were sent to Connolly Station, Busaras, Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport, , is operated by the Dublin Airport Authority. Located in Collinstown, in the Fingal part of County Dublin, 18.4 million passengers passed through the airport in 2010, making it the busiest airport in the Republic of Ireland, followed by Cork and Shannon...
, the B&I car ferry port, and the mail boat at Dun Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire
Dún Laoghaire or Dún Laoire , sometimes anglicised as "Dunleary" , is a suburban seaside town in County Dublin, Ireland, about twelve kilometres south of Dublin city centre. It is the county town of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County and a major port of entry from Great Britain...
. At 18:28, the Dublin-Belfast train was stopped at Dundalk
Dundalk
Dundalk is the county town of County Louth in Ireland. It is situated where the Castletown River flows into Dundalk Bay. The town is close to the border with Northern Ireland and equi-distant from Dublin and Belfast. The town's name, which was historically written as Dundalgan, has associations...
and searched by a team of 18 Gardaí led by an inspector. Over the course of the evening of 17 May, Gardaí from the Ballistics, Photography, Mappings, and Fingerprints section visited the three bomb sites in Dublin and examined the debris.
Some accounts give a total of 34 or 35 dead from the four bombings: 34 by including the unborn child of victim, Colette Doherty, who was nine months pregnant; and 35 by including the later still-born
Stillbirth
A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
child of Edward and Martha O'Neill. Edward was killed outright in Parnell Street. Martha O'Neill was not caught up in the attack, although two of their children were seriously injured in the bombing; one of them, a four-year-old boy, suffered severe facial injuries. The 22 months-old daughter of Colette Doherty survived the Talbot Street blast; she was found wandering about near the bomb site, relatively unharmed. Six weeks after the bombings, the elderly mother of Thomas Campbell, who was killed instantly in the Monaghan bombing, allegedly died of the shock she received at the death of her son.
Due to the bombings, the Irish Army
Irish Army
The Irish Army, officially named simply the Army is the main branch of the Defence Forces of Ireland. Approximately 8,500 men and women serve in the Irish Army, divided into three infantry Brigades...
withdrew its troops from all UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....
missions for several years.
Reactions
In Northern Ireland, Sammy Smyth, then press officer of both the Ulster Defence AssociationUlster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
(UDA) and the Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) Strike Committee, said:
I am very happy about the bombings in Dublin. There is a war with the Free State and now we are laughing at them.
Party leaders in the Dáil (Irish parliament), sitting about 300 metres from the site of the South Leinster Street blast, commented on the following Monday. Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Liam Cosgrave
Liam Cosgrave
Liam Cosgrave is an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach and as Leader of Fine Gael . He was a Teachta Dála from 1943 to 1981....
recorded his disgust, considering further that –
....the blood of the innocent victims of last Friday's outrage—and of the victims of similar outrages in the North and in England—is on the hands of every man who has fired a gun or discharged a bomb in furtherance of the present campaign of violence in these islands—just as plainly as it is on the hands of those who parked the cars and set the charges last Friday. In our times, violence cannot be contained in neat compartments and justified in one case but not in another.
The opposition leader Jack Lynch
Jack Lynch
John Mary "Jack" Lynch was the Taoiseach of Ireland, serving two terms in office; from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979....
was sickened by the "cruel" events, and also widened the question of blame –
Every person and every organisation which played any part in the campaign of bombing and violence which killed and maimed people and destroyed property in Belfast, Derry or any other part of our country and indeed in Britain over the past five years, shares the guilt and the shame of the assassins who actually placed these bombs on the streets of Dublin and Monaghan last Friday.
According to a Dublin newspaper in 2005, the then British Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, Arthur Galsworthy, noted the reactions in Dublin immediately after the bombings:
...there is no sign of any general anti-Northern Protestant reaction ... The predictable attempt by the IRA to pin the blame on the British (British agents, the SAS, etc) has made no headway at all. ... It is only now that the South has experienced violence that they are reacting in the way that the North has sought for so long.
The newspaper noted that "despite these feelings of schadenfreude
Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. This German word is used as a loanword in English and some other languages, and has been calqued in Danish and Norwegian as skadefryd and Swedish as skadeglädje....
", Galsworthy continued,
it would be ... a psychological mistake for us to rub this point in. ... I think the Irish have taken the point.
Responsibility for the bombings
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) claimed responsibility for the bombings in 1993, following a TV documentary on the bombings that named the UVF as the perpetrators, and which alleged that elements of British security forces were involved in the attack.Yorkshire Television documentary
On 7 July 1993 the BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
broadcast, as part of First Tuesday series, the documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Hidden Hand: The Forgotten Massacre, a programme on the bombings in co-operation with a number of retired officers in An Garda Síochána, the police force of the Republic of Ireland. The programme claimed that the bombings were the work of the UVF. It named a number of UVF members whom it said had taken part in the bombings, and who had since been killed during the Troubles. These included Billy Hanna
Billy Hanna
William Henry Wilson "Billy" Hanna MM was a high-ranking Northern Irish loyalist who founded and led the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force until he was killed, allegedly by Robin Jackson, who took over command of the brigade.According to RUC Special Patrol Group officer John Weir,...
, Robert McConnell, Harris Boyle
Harris Boyle
Harris Boyle was a Ulster Defence Regiment soldier and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Volunteer Force , a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary organisation. Boyle was implicated in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings which left a total of 33 people dead...
, and a key loyalist, whom the producers referred to as "the Jackal". The latter was later identified as Robin Jackson
Robin Jackson
Robert John "Robin" Jackson, known as the Jackal was a Northern Irish loyalist who held the rank of brigadier in the Ulster Volunteer Force during the period of violent religious and political conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.From his home in the small village of Donaghcloney,...
, who was still living at the time of the broadcasting, and the programme's producers had feared an accusation of libel. William "Frenchie" Marchant
William Marchant (loyalist)
William "Frenchie" Marchant was a Northern Irish loyalist and a middle-ranking volunteer in the Ulster Volunteer Force . He was on a Garda list of suspects in the 1974 Dublin car bombings which left a total of 26 people dead, and close to 300 injured...
was named as the leader of the Belfast UVF gang known as "Freddie and the Dreamers", which had hijacked the cars used in the bombings. Hidden Hand also claimed, however, that loyalist paramilitaries were aided by British security force members. Forensic examination seemed to suggest that the Dublin bombs had been built with some sophistication. Garda officers claimed that the UVF had been assisted by elements in the British security forces. Subsequently, a number of questions were asked in the Dáil, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland, about responsibility for the massacre. The government ordered the Gardaí to assess the information in the television programme.
UVF claims responsibility
One week later, on 15 July 1993, the Ulster Volunteer Force confirmed responsibility for the bombings, but also denied that it was aided by British security forces.The UVF claimed that:
The entire operation was from its conception to its successful conclusion, planned and carried out by our volunteers aided by no outside bodies. In contrast to the scenario painted by the programme, it would have been unnecessary and indeed undesirable to compromise our volunteers anonimity [sic] by using clandestine Security Force personnel, British or otherwise, to achieve [an] objective well within our capabilities. ... Given the backdrop of what was taking place in Northern Ireland when the UVF [were] bombing republican targets at will, either the researchers decided to take poetic licence to the limit or the truth was being twisted by knaves to make [a] trap for the fools. ... The minimum of scrutiny should have revealed that the structure of the bombs placed in Dublin and Monaghan were similar if not identical to those being placed in Northern Ireland on an almost daily basis. The type of explosives, timing and detonating methods all bore the hallmark of the UVF. It is incredulous [sic] that these points were lost on the Walter Mittys who conjured up this programme. To suggest that the UVF were not, or are not, capable of operating in the manner outlined in the programme is tempting fate to a dangerous degree.
Relatives seek public inquiry
In 1996, relatives of the victims of the bombings, Justice for the Forgotten, launched a campaign for a public inquiry. As their name implies, the group stated that they had been forgotten by the Irish state.On 23 July 1997, the group lobbied the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. MEPs from many countries supported a call for the release of files relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. On 27 August of that year, however, an Irish court declined to order the release of the files.
In August 1999, Irish Victims Commissioner, John Wilson, reported on the demand for a public inquiry. He proposed a judicial inquiry, held in private.
In December 1999, the Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern
Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
, appointed Mr Justice Liam Hamilton to undertake a thorough examination of the bombings, in a private inquiry. Justice for the Forgotten agreed to co-operate. The inquiry began work early in 2000. In October 2000, Mr Justice Henry Barron was appointed to succeed Mr Justice Hamilton. Relatives then campaigned for publication of Mr Justice Barron's initial report. It was presented to the Taoiseach on 29 October 2003, and published with five names redacted on 10 December 2003.
The Irish government demanded that the British government hand over official documents relating to the bombings, that were denied to the Barron Inquiry. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, informally the Northern Ireland Secretary, is the principal secretary of state in the government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of...
, John Reid, delivered a 16-page letter, but refused to hand over original documentation, claiming security concerns, despite the passage of time. Barron observed:
Correspondence with the Northern Ireland Office undoubtedly produced some useful information; but its value was reduced by the reluctance to make original documents available and the refusal to supply other information on security grounds. While the Inquiry fully understands the position taken by the British Government on these matters, it must be said that the scope of this report is limited as a result.
On 16 February 2005, the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights recommended that the Irish Government bring a case before the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
to force the UK Government to hold a public inquiry into the bombings. In June 2005, the Irish Government threatened to bring the British government to the European Court of Justice
European Court of Justice
The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...
, to force the release the files on the bombings.
It is acknowledged that, after 30 years, many witnesses, initial investigators and suspects are dead.
The Barron Report – main findings
On 10 December 2003, Mr Justice Henry Barron's report on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings was published. It stated:The publication of the report caused a sensation in Ireland, as demonstrated by political and media reaction. It is generally agreed that the report raised more questions than it answered and that it opened up new avenues of inquiry.
Oireachtas Sub-Committee on collusion
The Oireachtas Sub-Committee considering Mr Justice Barron's report concluded:A subsequent report by Henry Barron into the Miami Showband massacre, the killing of Seamus Ludlow, and the bombing of Keys Tavern found evidence of extensive collusion with the same mainly UVF personnel, amounting to "international terrorism" on the part of British forces.
McEntee Inquiry
Following a recommendation from the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, in its final report on the bombings (March 2004), the Irish Government established a further Commission of Investigation: Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 1974Commission of Investigation: Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 1974
After publication of Justice Henry Barron's report on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Irish Government established a follow-on Commission of Investigation: Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 1974 to inquire into certain aspects of the Gardaí investigation into the 1974 bombings on May 13, 2005...
in May 2005 under Patrick McEntee. The McEntee Enquiry is tasked to investigate the following:
The remit of the McEntee Commission was extended on a number of occasions. The report was handed to the Irish government on 12 March 2007. Publication was expected by the end of March 2007 On 3 April 2007, the Irish government announced that the Report would be published on 4 April 2007 at 5pm, after distribution to victims and to the families of those who had been killed by the bombs.
Barron Report – the detail
Mr Justice Barron reported that his official inquiry was obstructed by the British authorities. It found:In investigating allegations of collusion in relation to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, this Inquiry faces all the problems identified by the Stevens Inquiry, with the additional complication that it has no authority or powers within the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland.
Then Assistant Commissioner with the Metropolitan (London) Police, John Stevens, required three inquiries, with powers of search, questioning and arrest. His offices within RUC
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
headquarters suffered an arson attack. Stevens noted under "Obstruction of my Enquiries":
There was a clear breach of security before the planned arrest of [British agent and UDA member Brian] NelsonBrian Nelson (1948–2003)Brian Nelson was a Northern Ireland British Army Intelligence Corps agent who also operated as the intelligence chief of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association paramilitary organisation.-Early life:...
and other senior loyalists. Information was leaked to the loyalist paramilitaries and the press. This resulted in the operation being aborted. Nelson was advised by his FRU handlers to leave home the night before. A new date was set for the operation on account of the leak. The night before the new operation my Incident room was destroyed by fire. This incident, in my opinion, has never been adequately investigated and I believe it was a deliberate act of arson.
Stevens stated that collusion with loyalist killers by British Army Intelligence and RUC Special Branch had taken place:
I conclude there was collusion in both murders and the circumstances surrounding them. Collusion is evidenced in many ways. This ranges from the willful failure to keep records, the absence of accountability, the withholding of intelligence and evidence, through to the extreme of agents being involved in murder.
Barron reported:
We refer to the main difficulty in assessing the usefulness to the inquiry of the information [received from the British Government]. When three of us met Dr. Reid [then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland] and three of his officials in January 2002, we stressed that we wanted to see original intelligence documents, but we never got them. Of the information we received, some of it consisted of excerpts from an intelligence document, but there was not sufficient information to work out who got what document, whether there were other documents dealing with similar matters and how they were assessed by the people to whom they were addressed.
The Report (2003) by Justice Barron also criticises the Garda investigation into the bombings. He criticised, in addition, the lack of urgency in pursuing the culprits shown by then Labour-Fine Gael party coalition government in Dublin. Barron noted, "The Government of the day showed little interest in the bombings. When information was given to them suggesting the British authorities had intelligence naming the bombers, this was not followed up." Barron went on to note that similar, though not as extensive information, "was given to the Gardaí by the RUC but there are no records of the Gardaí questioning the RUC as to the names of those so interned, or attempting to ascertain the nature of the intelligence which led to their being detained. And the report says there is also no record of Irish Army intelligence seeking further information from their British counterparts". Barron stated that Department of Justice files on the Dublin bombings were "missing in their entirety" and that no records were provided to Barron by the department. The Garda investigation ended prematurely. Barron found, "there was no single reason why the investigation ended".
An RUC officer reported by Gardaí to be "an excellent and honest policeman" who would have had good intelligence as to who was responsible for various loyalist bombings, gave evidence to the Inquiry. Barron noted:
Given the central position he occupied in the intelligence-gathering network for the Mid-Ulster region, this RUC officer's interview with the Inquiry was disappointing. He said that the intelligence received by him was generally of a low grade. The Inquiry does not find this credible. This man lived and worked in Portadown, where loyalist paramilitaries lived open lives, largely untouched by the security forces. He himself told the Inquiry that the RUC were free to operate in loyalist areas, and that they knew the names of all the active people. In his meetings with the Inquiry, he made several statements which were shown to be inaccurate or based on assumptions rather than fact.
Barron on ballistic history
The Barron Inquiry found a chain of ballistic history linking weapons and killings under the control of a group of UVF and security force members, including RUC Special Patrol Group members John WeirJohn Weir (loyalist)
John Oliver Weir , is an Ulster loyalist born in the Republic of Ireland. He served as an officer in Northern Ireland's Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group , and was a volunteer in the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force...
and Billy McCaughey
Billy McCaughey
William "Billy" McCaughey was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group and the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force in the 1970s. He was imprisoned for 16 years for murder from 1980 to 1996...
, connected to those alleged to have carried out the bombings. These killings included:
In 1975, three murders at Donnelly's bar in Silverbridge, the murders of two men at a fake UDR checkpoint, the murder of IRA man John Francis GreenJohn Francis GreenJohn Francis Green , was a leading member of the North Armagh Brigade of the Provisional IRA, holding the rank of Staff Captain and Intelligence Officer. He was killed in a farmhouse outside Castleblayney, County Monaghan, by members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force...
in the Republic, the murders of members of the Miami showband and the murder of Dorothy Trainor in Portadown. In 1976, they included the murders of three members of the Reavey family, and the attack on the Rock Bar in Tassagh.
According to Fred Holroyd
Fred Holroyd
Captain Frederick John Holroyd was a British soldier who was based at the British Army's 3 Brigade HQ in mid-Ulster, Northern Ireland during the 1970s. He enlisted as a gunner in the Royal Artillery, and three years later, in 1964, he was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps...
, Captain Robert Nairac
Robert Nairac
Captain Robert Laurence Nairac GC was a British Army officer who was abducted from a pub in south County Armagh during an undercover operation and killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on his fourth tour of duty in Northern Ireland as a Military Intelligence Liaison Officer...
, acting under SAS orders, was involved in the killing of John Francis Green in the Republic of Ireland and in the Miami Showband killings
Miami Showband killings
The Miami Showband killings was a paramilitary attack at Buskhill, County Down, Northern Ireland, in the early morning of 31 July 1975. It left five people dead at the hands of Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen, including three members of The Miami Showband...
. John Weir supported the suggestion of Nairac's involvement in the Green assassination:
I was told that Nairac was with them. I was told by ... a UVF man, he was very close to Jackson and operated with him. Jackson told [him] that Nairac was with them.Surviving Miami showband members Stephen Travers and Des McAlee testified in court that an Army officer with a crisp English accent oversaw the Miami Showband killings
Miami Showband killings
The Miami Showband killings was a paramilitary attack at Buskhill, County Down, Northern Ireland, in the early morning of 31 July 1975. It left five people dead at the hands of Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen, including three members of The Miami Showband...
, the implication being that this was Nairac.
Susan McKay summarised Barron on the ballistic history point:
It was probable the guns were kept at a farm at Glenanne belonging to James Mitchell, an RUC reservist ... from which a group of paramilitaries and members of the security forces ... carried out the massacres at Dublin and Monaghan. ... The chain was unbroken because the perpetrators of these attacks weren't caught, or investigations were haphazard, or charges were dropped, or light or suspended sentences were given. The same individuals turn up again and again, but the links weren't noted. Some of the perpetrators weren't prosecuted despite evidence against them.
Robin Jackson, consistently linked with Nairac, was alleged to be involved in this illegal violence (the link was noted contemporaneously in 1975 – see Colin Wallace
Colin Wallace
John Colin Wallace is a former British soldier and psychological warfare operative who was one of the members of the 'Clockwork Orange' project, which is alleged to have been an attempt to smear a number of British politicians in the early 1970s.-Early life:...
section below).
On 28 October 1973, Robin Jackson murdered Patrick Campbell, a 34-year-old Catholic from Banbridge. He shot him on the doorstep of his home. Campbell's wife picked Jackson out during a police identity parade. However, a murder charge brought against him was dropped after it was claimed Mrs Campbell knew Jackson – a claim she denies. Six months later, the loyalist was one of those who bombed Dublin and Monaghan. Barron notes that in 1976, the security forces came up with evidence, including Jackson's finger print on one of the guns in the chain above. … He was released. In 1977, he was named in court as the gunman who shot William Strathearn in Ahoghill, Co Antrim. Two RUC men, Billy McCaughey and John Weir were convicted. Jackson wasn't even questioned, for "operational reasons" which have never been detailed.
Colin Wallace on security force collusion in bombings
Barron noted journalist Robert Fisk'sRobert Fisk
Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...
suggestion that the bombings were carried out by militant UVF members opposed to meetings between UVF delegations and the Official and Provisional IRA, which had taken place earlier in 1974:
The Dublin bombings were apparently carried out to show other members of the UVF that, left-wing though it might have become, this did not imply any deals with republicans.
This view finds independent support in a letter from then British Army intelligence officer Colin Wallace to Tony Stoughton, Chief Information Officer of the British Army Information Service at Lisburn, on 14 August 1975:
There is good evidence the Dublin bombings in May last year were a reprisal for the Irish government's role in bringing about the [power sharing] Executive. According to one of Craig's people [Craig Smellie, the top MI6 officer in the Northern Ireland at the time], some of those involved, the Youngs, the Jacksons, Mulholland, Hanna, Kerr and McConnell were working closely with [Special Branch] and [Intelligence] at that time. Craig's people believe the sectarian assassinations were designed to destroy [then Northern Secretary Merlyn] Rees's attempts to negotiate a ceasefire, and the targets were identified for both sides by [Intelligence/Special Branch]. They also believe some very senior RUC officers were involved with this group. In short, it would appear that loyalist paramilitaries and [Intelligence/Special Branch] members have formed some sort of pseudo gangs in an attempt to fight a war of attrition by getting paramilitaries on both sides to kill each other and, at the same time prevent any future political initiative such as Sunningdale.
In a further letter dated 30 September 1975, Wallace revealed that MI5 was trying to create a split in the UVF:
...because they wanted the more politically minded ones ousted. I believe much of the violence generated during the latter part of last year was caused by some of the new Int people deliberately stirring up the conflict. As you know, we have never been allowed to target the breakaway UVF, nor the UFF, during the past year. Yet they have killed more people than the IRA!
Barron noted that Wallace's 14 August 1975 letter was "strong evidence that the security forces in Northern Ireland had intelligence information which was not shared with the Garda investigation team."
Wallace also noted that:
Several of the key players in the mid-Ulster UVF were working for the Special Branch and for ourselves. .. giving information and liaising and so forth. If you just draw the line there and don't even go any further than liaison, and if the informers were doing their job – and if they weren't doing their job we wouldn't have been using them – an operation of that size, in terms of the logistics and planning was so big that there was something seriously wrong if the Security Forces as a whole did not know that (a) an operation was going on; and (b) had some idea about it, because of the scale of it. That would have been a prime target for the intelligence agencies to get to grips with.
Wallace then noted that investigation into the bombings was closed down with immediate effect a very short time after the bombings.
As with Fred Holroyd and John Weir, there were unsuccessful attempts to undermine Colin Wallace's credibility and evidence to the Inquiry. Between 1968 and 1975 Wallace had run the main psychological warfare, or 'psyops', department at British Army Headquarters in Lisburn, a task involving "dissemination of information and disinformation". In September 1974 Wallace refused to become involved in attempts by the security services to subvert British government policy. Wallace also discovered that at the Kincora Boys' Home a member of an "extreme loyalist organisation", William McGrath
William McGrath (loyalist)
William McGrath was a loyalist from Northern Ireland who founded the far-right organisation Tara in the 1960s, having also been prominent in the Orange Order until his expulsion due to his paedophilia...
, was involved with others in pedophile abuse. The home was not closed down. Wallace suspected that "the intelligence services were using the information to blackmail the extreme loyalist into helping them". Wallace made known his opposition. Wallace later attempted to expose security force involvement in events such as the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings, and attempts by MI5 to undermine "left wing organisations and individuals", including the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.
Barron notes that Wallace was then targeted by the same security services he had served. He was forced out of government service on a charge of attempting to pass a restricted document to a journalist, Robert Fisk. In 1980 he was charged with and then convicted of manslaughter. After his release from prison on parole in 1985, Wallace proclaimed his innocence. He later successfully overturned the conviction, which was quashed on 21 July 1996. Wallace was also paid £30,000 pounds sterling compensation (the maximum allowed) for unjust dismissal from government Service. His role within the British Army intelligence service had already been officially, though belatedly, acknowledged in 1990. Wallace was fully vindicated.
Fred Holroyd on security force collusion in bombings
Evidence for British security force involvement in the bombings is also supported by British Army Captain Fred HolroydFred Holroyd
Captain Frederick John Holroyd was a British soldier who was based at the British Army's 3 Brigade HQ in mid-Ulster, Northern Ireland during the 1970s. He enlisted as a gunner in the Royal Artillery, and three years later, in 1964, he was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps...
, who worked for MI6 during the 1970s in Northern Ireland. Holroyd argued that "the bombings were part of a pattern of collusion between elements of the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitaries."
Barron found that members of the Gardaí and of the RUC attempted to unfairly and unjustly undermine Holroyd's evidence.
Barron noted that:
Some of the RUC officers interviewed by the Inquiry, in their apparent eagerness to deny Holroyd any credibility whatsoever, themselves made inaccurate and misleading statements which have unfortunately tarnished their own credibility.
Then Assistant Commissioner of the Gardaí, Edmund ('Ned') Garvey was said by Fred Holroyd to have met him and an RUC Officer at Garda headquarters in 1975. Holroyd named Garvey, and another Garda (codenamed, 'the badger'), as being on the "British side". Garvey later denied that the meeting took place. However, Justice Barron found: "The visit by Holroyd to Garda Headquarters unquestionably did take place, notwithstanding former Commissioner Garvey's inability to recall it". Barron further noted: "On the Northern side, there is conflicting evidence as to how, why and by whom the visit was arranged. Regrettably, Garda investigations have failed to uncover any documentary evidence of the visit, or to identify any of the officers involved in arranging it from the Southern side."
Edmund Garvey was dismissed by the incoming Fianna Fáil Government on 19 January 1978 without explanation, other than by stating that it no longer had confidence in him as Garda Commissioner.
John Weir on security force collusion in bombings
The UVF claim of sole responsibility is also undermined by extensive evidence of involvement by British security forces in their paramilitary violence, in particular within UVF structures. RUC and UDR involvement with loyalist paramilitaries is established by admission of some of those involved – see Billy McCaughey. McCaughey, claimed that many local RUC and Ulster Defence Regiment personnel were working with UVF paramilitaries in the Armagh and Mid Ulster area in a way that made membership almost interchangeable – he claimed that his RUC Special Patrol GroupSpecial Patrol Group (RUC)
The Special Patrol Group in the Royal Ulster Constabulary was a police unit tasked with counter terrorism. Each SPG had 30 members. Many of the SPG units were accused of collusion with the illegal paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force, particularly the actions of a unit based in Armagh.-A...
unit was both exclusively Protestant and "orange" or unionist.
John Weir, a member of a different, though equally loyalist, RUC Special Patrol Group,
claimed to have been part of the Glenanne gangOn Page 147 of the Barron Report, Weir detailed how "senior officers in the RUC knew of and encouraged connections between RUC officers and loyalist extremists."Glenanne gangThe Glenanne gang was a name given, since 2003, to a loose alliance of Northern Irish loyalist extremists who carried out sectarian killings and bomb attacks in the 1970s against the Irish Catholic and Irish nationalist community. Most of its attacks took place in the area of County Armagh and mid...
, a renegade group of loyalist paramilitaries, UDR and RUC officers who were carrying out attacks on both sides of the border between 1974 and 1978. He named people who he said were involved in a number of these attacks – including the Dublin, Monaghan and Dundalk bombings. He also named a farm in Glenanne, Co. Armagh (whence derived the gang's name) which he claimed was used as a base of operations by the group. He alleged that senior officers in the RUC knew of, and gave tacit approval to, these activities.
Furthermore:
Weir said he was told that [UDR staff instructor William] HannaBilly HannaWilliam Henry Wilson "Billy" Hanna MM was a high-ranking Northern Irish loyalist who founded and led the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force until he was killed, allegedly by Robin Jackson, who took over command of the brigade.According to RUC Special Patrol Group officer John Weir,...
was assisted in carrying out the Dublin bombings by Robin Jackson (UVF, Lurgan) and David PayneDavy PayneDavid "Davy" Payne was a senior Northern Irish loyalist and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Defence Association during the Troubles serving as brigadier of the North Belfast Brigade. He was second-in-command of the Shankill Road brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters , which was the "cover...
(UDA, Belfast). He says that Stewart Young (UVF, Portadown) had been involved in carrying out the Monaghan bombing – adding that he heard this from Young himself as well as from others in the group. He said that explosives for all four bombs were supplied by a named UDR officer.
In his report, Mr Justice Barron commented on John Weir's evidence: "The Inquiry agrees with the view of An Garda Siochana that Weir's allegations regarding the Dublin and Monaghan bombings must be treated with the utmost seriousness".
Despite Weir's conviction for the murder of William Strathearn in April 1977 – for which he was originally sentenced to life in prison – the inquiry found that Mr Weir's claims are 'largely credible'... Bearing in mind that Weir was an active member of the security services and that his allegations relating to the period from May to August 1976 have received considerable confirmation, the Inquiry believes that his evidence overall is credible.
The RUC furnished the Gardaí with a report that attempted to undermine Weir's evidence. Barron found this RUC attempt to be highly inaccurate and to lack credibility.
See also
- Commission of Investigation: Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 1974Commission of Investigation: Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 1974After publication of Justice Henry Barron's report on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Irish Government established a follow-on Commission of Investigation: Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 1974 to inquire into certain aspects of the Gardaí investigation into the 1974 bombings on May 13, 2005...
- Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actionsTimeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actionsThis is a timeline of actions by the Ulster Volunteer Force , a loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1966. It includes actions carried out by the Red Hand Commando , a group integrated into the UVF shortly after their formation in 1972. It also includes attacks claimed by the Protestant Action...