Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles

18^th October

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Tuesday 18 October 1977

William Craig, then a Member of Parliament (MP) and a member of the Council of Europe, was appointed by the council to report on the updating of the European Convention on Human Rights.

[This appointment was criticised by some of those associated with the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland.]

Thursday 18 October 1979

  Hunger Strike.  Public Record Click to read  

Friday 18 October 1996

David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), met with Loyalist prisoners in the Maze Prison.

Monday 18 October 1999

Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), issued a statement on his party’s commitment to the Good Friday Agreement. In the Republic of Ireland the Equality Act outlawing discrimination in the workplace was signed into law at the official opening of the building designed to house the new Equality Authority and the Director of Equality Investigations. Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), stressed the commitment of the State to eliminating discrimination.

John O’Donoghue, then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, proposed regulations which would allow asylum-seekers to be deported to the European Union country first entered. Included in the proposals were mechanisms to house asylum-seekers outside Dublin plus the introduction of food, clothing and housing support rather than social welfare payments. The funeral of Josef Locke, the singer born in Derry, took place in Clane parish church, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland.

Thursday 18 October 2001 Unionist Ministers Resign

There was a pipe-bomb attack on a public house in Newtownards, County Down, at approximately 12.15am (00.15BST). The explosion caused minor damage to the pub.

[Loyalist paramilitaries were believed to be responsible.]

David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), held a meeting at Stormont with Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF).

[The meeting discussed the possibility of the decommissioning of Irish Republican Army (IRA) weapons and what political steps would be likely to follow. It appears that this meeting failed to resolve outstanding issues.]

Trimble also had meetings with representatives of the other main political parties. The three Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) ministers formally resigned from the Northern Ireland Executive at midnight. The two Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) ministers also resigned at the same time. The move was taken because the UUP no longer wished to share power with SF in the absence of decommissioning by the IRA. Dermot Nesbitt, then a UUP Junior Minister, remained in his position within the Office of the First Minster and Deputy First Minister. This prompted Mark Durkan, then leader in-waiting of the SDLP, to say that: “David Trimble has taken his team off the field, but left behind the mascot”.

[John Reid, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, has seven days in which to decide what action to take. He could decide to call for a review of the Good Friday Agreement which would involve an indefinite suspension of the power-sharing government. Alternatively, and less likely, he could opt for fresh Assembly elections.]

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Remembering all innocent victims of the Troubles

Today is the anniversary of the death of the following  people killed as a results of the conflict in Northern Ireland

“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”
― Thomas Campbell

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.

  5 People lost their lives on the 18th  October  between 1972– 1989

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18 October 1972
Anthony David,   (27) nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Died four weeks after being shot while on British Army (BA) mobile patrol, Falls Road, Belfast.

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18 October 1974

Michael Hughes,   (16)

Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),

Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot during attempted hijacking of bus, Derrybeg, Newry, County Down.

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18 October 1977
John Anderson,  (61)

Protestant
Status: ex-Royal Ulster Constabulary (xRUC),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot while driving his car, Girvan’s Bridge, near Keady, County Armagh.

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18 October 1986

William Dickson,   (39)

Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Association (UDA),

Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Shot while in Kimberley Inn, Kimberley Street, Ballynafeigh, Belfast. Internal Ulster Defence Association (UDA) dispute.

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18 October 1989
Robert Metcalfe,   (40)

Protestant
Status: Civilian Political Activist (CivPA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Member of Ulster Resistance. Shot at his home, Drumnabreeze Road, Magheralin, near Lurgan, County Down.

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