Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
19th January
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Friday 19 January 1968
Terence O’Neill, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, made a speech marking five years in office to members of the Irish Association. O’Neill called for “a new endeavour by organisations in Northern Ireland to cross denominational barriers and advance the cause of better community relations” (The Times; 20 January 1968).
Sunday 19 January 1975
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out two gun attacks on hotels in London. Shots were fired into the Carlton Tower Hotel and the Portman Hotel. Twelve people were injured in the attacks.
Wednesday 19 January 1977
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out a series of booby-trap bomb attacks on security force members.
Tuesday 19 January 1982
The first meeting of Anglo-Irish Inter-government Council took place.
Wednesday 19 January 1994
Irish Broadcast Ban Lifted At midnight the broadcasting ban under section 31 of the Broadcasting Act was lifted in the Republic of Ireland.
[This allowed Sinn Féin (SF) access to the Irish media. The British broadcasting ban was ended on 16 September 1994.]
Thursday 19 January 1995
The appeal in the House of Lords by Lee Clegg, a private in the Parachute Regiment, against his murder conviction was dismissed by the Law Lords.
[An earlier appeal on 30 March 1994 had also been turned down. However, Clegg was released from prison on 3 July 1995 having served two years of a life sentence for the murder of Karen Reilly (16) on 30 September 1990.]
See Lee Clegg post
Monday 19 January 1998
Jim Guiney (38), then a commander in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), was shot dead by two members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) at his carpet shop in Dunmurray, Belfast.
Guiney was married with four children.
Larry Brennan (51), a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) on the Ormeau Road in Belfast. Brennan was working as a taxi-driver when he was shot at 7.20pm.
[The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) initially claimed responsibility for the killing but many people considered it unlikely that the LVF would have acted alone. It was claimed that the attack was carried out by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) / Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in retaliation for the killing of Jim Guiney.
Brennan’s Protestant girlfriend was later told she would be shot if she went to his funeral and she also had to leave her home in a Loyalist area of Belfast.
On 22 January 1998, Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), announced that the UFF were responsible for the killing of Larry Brennan. The UFF is a cover name (pseudonym) used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). The UFF at the time was on a self-proclaimed ceasefire.
A delegation from Sinn Féin (SF) went to Downing Street, London to have talks with Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, about the ‘Propositions of Heads of Agreement’ document. SF claimed that the document had emphasised a ‘partition solution’ to the problems of Northern Ireland at the expense of all-Ireland institutions. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) rejected SF’s assessment of the document.
Tuesday 19 January 1999
A man was injured in the arm and leg when the Orange Volunteers (OV) threw a pipe-bomb thrown at his home in Loughinisland, County Down.
[The OV were a Loyalist paramilitary group opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.]
David Ervine, then leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), claimed on BBC Radio Ulster that the OV was largely made up of Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) members and was a combination of Protestant fundamentalists and drug dealers.
The Belfast Telegraph (a Belfast based newspaper) published a report claiming that only 29 per cent of killings carried out by Republicans had been ‘solved’ compared to 50 per cent of Loyalist killings.
Andrew Hunter, then a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), said that he would use Parliamentary privilege to name those he believed were responsible for the Omagh Bombing.
See Omagh Bombing
He also said he would name those involved in carrying out paramilitary ‘punishment’ attacks.
[Later the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), and others, persuaded him to postpone his statement on the grounds that it might prejudice any future trial.]
Wednesday 19 January 2000
Peter Mandelson, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, made a statement to the House of Commons on the Patten Report.
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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 19th January between 1975 – 1998
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19 January 1975
Patrick Toner, (7)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed by booby trap bomb in field near his home, Forkhill, County Armagh
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19 January 1982
John Torbitt, (29)
Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Died three weeks after being shot at his home, Horn Drive, Lenadoon, Belfast. Alleged informer.
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19 January 1988
Anthony McKiernan, (44)
Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Found shot Mica Drive, Beechmount, Belfast. Alleged informer.
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19 January 1998
Jim Guiney, (38)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Association (UDA),
Killed by: Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
Shot at his carpet shop, Kingsway, Dunmurry, near Belfast, County Antrim.
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19 January 1998
Larry Brennan, (52)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Taxi driver. Shot while sitting in his stationary car, outside taxi depot, Ormeau Road, Ballynafeigh, Belfast
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