Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
8th April
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Monday 8 April 1974
Merlyn Rees, then Secretary of Sate for Northern Ireland, held a meeting with representatives of the Ulster Workers’ Council (UWC). The meeting did not produce any agreement.
[At this time the UWC was not consider a serious threat to the future of the Executive mainly because of the failure of previous stoppages by the Loyalist Association of Workers (LAW) and because of apparently low support during demonstrations against the Sunningdale Agreement.]
Friday 8 April 1977
Two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Moneymore, County Derry.
Wednesday 8 April 1981
See 1981 Hunger Strike
Friday 8 April 1983
James Prior, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced the setting up of an inquiry into the working of the Emergency Provisions Act.
Sunday 8 April 1984
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out a gun attack on Thomas Travers, then a Resident Magistrate, outside St Brigid’s Catholic Church in Belfast. Travers was seriously injured in the attack but his daughter Mary Travers (22) was shot and killed.
Tuesday 8 April 1986
There was further rioting in Belfast and more attacks by Loyalists on the homes of Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers
Monday 8 April 1996
There was violence following an Apprentice Boys organisation protest at the banning of their march through the Lower Ormeau Road, Belfast.
Tuesday 8 April 1997
Two men serving life sentences for murders committed in 1994 began their appeal in the High Court in Belfast against their sentences.
Wednesday 8 April 1998
Trevor Deeny (34), a former Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) prisoner, was shot dead by Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) gunmen in the Waterside area of Derry.
It was the first ‘Troubles’ related killing in the city for almost four years.
Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, held a breakfast meeting with Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), at Hillsborough Castle, County Down, to co-ordinate their efforts to find agreement.
[Bertie Ahern’s also travelled to Dublin for the funeral of his mother before returning to Belfast to rejoin the talks.]
Thursday 8 April 1999
Loyalists in Portadown, County Armagh, said they intended to mount a “Harryville-style” picket on the St John the Baptist Catholic Church at the top of the town’s Garvaghy Road. Pauline Armitage, then Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Assembly member, expressed her opposition to the Hillsborough Declaration.
Monday 8 May 2000
Peter Mandelson, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, offered to reduce the number of British Army soldiers in Northern Ireland if the Irish Republican Army (IRA) kept to its promise on decommissioning. Mandelson refused to discuss the precise number of troops that would be withdrawn from the region.
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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.
7 People lost their lives on the 8th April between 1976– 1998
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08 April 1976
Pacelli Dillon, (36)
Catholic
Status: Prison Officer (PO),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Shot outside his home, Loughmacrory Park, Carrickmore, County
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08 April 1977
John McCracken, (22)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by occupants of stationary car, as he approached the vehicle, while on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) mobile patrol, Gortagilly, near Moneymore, County Derry.
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08 April 1977
Kenneth Sheehan, (19)
Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by occupants of stationary car, as he approached the vehicle, while on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) mobile patrol, Gortagilly, near Moneymore, County Derry.
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08 April 1978
Brendan Megraw, (23)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Abducted from his home, Stewartstown House, off Summerhill Road, Twinbrook, Belfast. His remains eventually found, on general instructions from the IRA, buried in bogland, Oristown, near Kells, County Meath, on 1 October 2014.
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08 April 1984
Mary Travers, (22)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot during gun attack on her Resident Magistrate father, Thomas Travers, shortly after leaving St Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church, while walking along Windsor Avenue, Malone, Belfast.
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08 April 1986
William Pollock, (27)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Killed by booby trap bomb attached to trailer at his farm, off Ganvaghan Road, near Castlederg, County Tyrone.
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08 April 1998
Trevor Deeny, (34)
Protestant
Status: ex-Ulster Volunteer Force (xUVF),
Killed by: Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
Shot, outside his home, Hillhampton, off Rossdowney Road, Kilfennan, Derry.
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Belfast Child 