Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
23rd September
Wednesday 23 September 1970
Arthur Young, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), announced his resignation as from 23 November 1970.
Sunday 23 September 1973
A British soldier was killed when trying to defuse a bomb which had been planted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Birmingham.
Thursday 23 September 1982
John Hermon, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), said that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) were both “reeling” from the evidence given by informers (called ‘supergrass’ by the media) and the subsequent arrests.
Friday 23 September 1983
The Fair Employment Agency (FEA) said that it would monitor recruitment policy at Short Brothers aircraft factory in Belfast following allegations of an anti-Catholic bias in the organisation.#
Tuesday 23 September 1986
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) councillors held separate meetings and decided to continue the protests in council chambers against the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA). However they decided against mass resignations.
Sunday 23 September 1990
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) shot and killed an off-duty Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldier at Oxford Island, Lough Neagh, County Armagh.
[This shooting was the first in a series of fresh killings. On 6 October 1990 a Catholic man was shot dead by the Protestant Action Force (PAF) at the same location.]
Loyalists shot and killed two Protestant civilians in Lisburn, County Down.
Wednesday 23 September 1992
IRA Bomb at Forensic Science Laboratory The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a huge bomb, estimated at 2,000 pounds, at the Northern Ireland forensic science laboratories in south Belfast. Twenty people were injured, the laboratories destroyed, and approximately 700 houses were damaged in the blast.
[The cost of repairs was estimated at £6 million.]
Thursday 23 September 1993
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) held a meeting with Michael Ancram, then Political Development Minister at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), to discuss the possibility of future political talks. The Campaign for Labour Representation in Northern Ireland (CLRNI), which was established in 1977 to try to persuade the British Labour Party to stand for elections in Northern Ireland, was dissolved without achieving its central aim.
Friday 23 September 1994
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) tried to kill a Republican in the lower Falls area of west Belfast.
John Major, then British Prime Minister, said in an interview on BBC radio that “exploratory talks” between British officials and Sinn Féin (SF) could start by Christmas. He added that this would depend whether or not Republicans intended to give up violence for good.
The United States of America (USA) granted another visa to Gerry Adams, then President of SF, to allow him to make a second trip to America on 24 September 1994.
Saturday 23 September 1995
John Bruton, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), met with John Major, then British Prime Minister, at a European Union meeting in Majorca.
Monday 23 September 1996
Diarmuid O’Neill (21) (later confirmed as a member of the Irish Republican Army; IRA) was shot dead in raids by security service personnel. In the security operation several people were arrested and bomb-making material recovered.
Ten tonnes of home-made explosives, two pounds of Semtex, rifles and other bomb equipment were recovered.
[Initial reports of the arrest operation suggested that there had been a ‘shoot-out’ but it was later revealed that Mr O’Neill was unarmed at the time of the shooting.]
Tuesday 23 September 1997
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) sat in the same room as Sinn Féin (SF) during a plenary session of the multi-party talks at Stormont, Belfast. The UUP proposed a motion to have SF removed following an indication by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 11 September 1997 that it had some difficulties with aspects of the Mitchell Principles, however the motion was defeated. William Thompson, then a UUP Member of Parliament (MP), threatened to resign because of David Trimble’s, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), decision to enter the talks at Stormont.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) screened a programme called Provos: Born Again which alleged that Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), had been a senior member of the IRA.
Wednesday 23 September 1998
There was disagreement between Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), and David Trimble, then First Minister designate, over the issue of decommissioning. Adams said that Irish Republican Army (IRA) decommissioning was not within SF’s gift and accused Trimble of trying to impose conditions on SF’s entry into the Executive and trying to renegotiate the Agreement.
Thursday 23 September 1999
Sinn Féin published its submission to the Mitchell Review of the Good Friday Agreement.
Sunday 23 September 2001
At around 2.00am (02.00BST) there were clashes at a sectarian interface at Cliftonpark Avenue, north Belfast. Loyalist paramilitaries fired a number of shots at a Nationalist crowd and a woman (19) was reported to have been shot in the leg.
A pipe-bomb was discovered in Newington Street, north Belfast. The device was defused by the British Army. A pipe-bomb exploded at a community centre in the Brookfield Mill, near the Ardoyne, north Belfast.
A second pipe-bomb was also thrown but failed to explode. A number of Catholic workmen in the area were uninjured. The attack was carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries. There were further sectarian clashes in the Tiger’s Bay / North Queen Street area of Belfast during the afternoon. The rival crowds were dispersed by security forces.
[The Red Hand Defenders (RHD), a cover name previously used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), later admitted responsibility for several attacks in north Belfast.]
It was reported that members of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee met in Dundalk, Republic of Ireland, to discuss the political situation in Ireland following the attacks in America on 11 September 2001. [Some commentators believe that the Committee has political links with the “real” Irish Republican Army (rIRA) but this has been denied by both organisations. There was media speculation that the rIRA may be considering a ceasefire following the attacks in America.]
Remembering all innocent victims of the Troubles
Today is the anniversary of the follow people killed as a results of the conflict in Northern Ireland
To the innocent on the list – Your memory will live forever
– To the Paramilitaries –
“There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, but nothing worth killing for.
9 People lost their lives on the 23rd September between 1971 – 1996
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23 September 1971
Rose Curry, (18)
Catholic
Status: Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA),
Killed by: Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA)
Killed in premature bomb explosion at house, Merrion Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.
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23 September 1971
Gerard O’Hare, (17) Catholic
Status: Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA),
Killed by: Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA)
Killed in premature bomb explosion at house, Merrion Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.
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23 September 1973
Ronald Wilkinson, (30) nfNIB
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Died six days after attempting to defuse bomb outside office block, Highfield Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England
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23 September 1980
Ernest Johnston, (36)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty reservist. Shot while driving into the laneway of his home, Lisrace, near Rosslea, County Fermanagh.
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23 September 1988
Gerard Slane, (27)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot at his home, Waterville Street, Falls, Belfast.
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23 September 1990
Colin McCullough, (22)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Shot while sitting in stationary car with his girlfriend, Oxford Island, Lough Neagh, County Armagh.
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23 September 1990
William Allister, (46)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot while in County Down Arms, Hillhall Road, Lisburn, County Antrim.
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23 September 1990
George Friars, (28)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Association (UDA),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot while in County Down Arms, Hillhall Road, Lisburn, County Antrim. Alleged informer. He died 7 October 1990.
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23 September 1996
Diarmuid O’Neill, (27) nfNIB
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: British Police (BP)
Born in England, of Irish background. Shot, during raid on his home, Glenthorne Road, Hammersmith, London
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Belfast Child 