Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 17 May 1974 The views and opinions expressed in this page and documentaries are soley intended to educate and provide background information to those interested in the…
Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
17th May
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Wednesday 17 May 1972
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) opened fire on workers leaving the Mackies engineering works in West Belfast.
[Although the factory was sited in a Catholic area it had an almost entirely Protestant workforce.]
Thursday 17 May 1973
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out a booby-trap bomb attack on five members of the British Army who were off duty at the time. The attack occurred in Omagh, County Tyrone.
[Four soldiers were killed on the day and the fifth soldier died on 3 June 1973.]
Loyalists killed two Catholic civilians in Belfast.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) shot dead a man in County Fermanagh.
Friday 17 May 1974
Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 33 People Killed
Day 3 of the UWC strike
33 civilians and an unborn child were killed in the Republic of Ireland as a result of a series of explosions when four car bombs were planted by Loyalist paramilitaries in Dublin and Monaghan.
Approximately 258 people were also injured in the explosions. The death toll from the bombings was the largest in any single day of the conflict. No one was ever arrested or convicted of causing the explosions.
[On 15 July 1993 the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) claimed sole responsibility for carrying out the bomb attacks.]
In Dublin three car bombs exploded, almost simultaneously at approximately 5.30pm, in Parnell Street, Talbot Street, and South Leinster Street. 23 men, women and children died in these explosions and 3 others died as a result of injuries over the following few days. Another car bomb exploded at approximately 7.00pm in North Road, Monaghan, killing 5 people initially with another 2 dying in the following weeks.
The first of the three Dublin bombs went off at approximately 5.28pm in Parnell Street. Eleven people died as a result of this explosion.
The second of the Dublin bombs went off at approximately 5.30pm in Parnell Street. Fourteen people died in this explosion. The third bomb went off at approximately 5.32pm in South Leinster Street. Two people were killed in this explosion.
News of car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan raised tensions in Northern Ireland. Sammy Smyth, then press officer of both the Ulster Defence Association (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.”
In Northern Ireland reductions in the supply of electricity continued to have serious consequences for industry, commerce, and the domestic sector. In addition to problems in maintaining petrol distribution, a lack of electricity also meant that pumps did not operate for substantial periods of each day. Postal delivery services came to a halt following intimidation of Royal Mail employees.
There were continuing problems in farming and in the distribution of food supplies. Special arrangements were made by the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure that payments of welfare benefits would be delivered to claimants.
William Craig, then leader of (Ulster) Vanguard, criticised Merlyn Rees, then Secretary of Sate for Northern Ireland, for not negotiating with the Ulster Workers’ Council (UWC).
[Public Records 1974 – Released 1 January 2005: Letter from F.E.R. Butler, then in the Ministry of Defence, discussing the ‘Provision of Electric Power to Belfast’.]
Monday 17 May 1976
James Gallagher (20) was shot dead, as he travelled, as a passenger on a bus, past Fort George British Army base, Strand Road, Derry.
The soldier who shot him was on sentry duty in the base and as he handed over his rifle is reported to have said, “I’m cracking, I’m cracking”. Two other passengers on the bus, a man and a woman, were injured in the incident.
[Later Gallagher was listed on a Republican roll of honour as an Irish Republican Army (IRA) member.]
Two Protestant civilians were shot dead by Republican paramilitaries at a factory in Dungannon Street, Moy, County Tyrone.
Friday 17 May 1984
Jim Campbell, then Northern Editor of the Sunday World, was shot and seriously injured by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at his home in north Belfast.
Local government elections were held across Northern Ireland.
[The percentage share of the vote was: Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 31.4%; Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 17.8%; Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 21.2%; Sinn Féin (SF) 11.3%; Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) 6.8%; Workers Party (WP) 2.1%; Others 9.4%; Turnout 56.0%. (See detailed results.)]
Thursday 17 May 1990
Summary of Stevens Report Published
A summary of the report of the Stevens Inquiry was published. The main finding of the report was that there had been evidence of collusion between members of the security forces and Loyalist paramilitaries.
However it was the view of the inquiry that any collusion was “restricted to a small number of members of the security forces and is neither widespread nor institutionalised”.
There was a Westminster by-election in the constituency of Upper Bann. David Trimble, of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), won the by-election with a majority of almost 14,000 votes. The Conservative Party candidate, Colette Jones, lost her deposit.
Sunday 17 May 1992
British soldiers of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers becamed involved in a fist-fight with local people in Coalisland, County Tyrone. Soon after members of the Parachute Regiment arrived and fired on a crowd of people standing outside a public house in the town, and shot and wounded three civilians and injured a further four others.
[This incident followed an earlier one on 12 May 1992. It was later reported that the commander of the army’s Third Brigade was transferred. Patrols by the Parachute Regiment were also ended before the official end of the regiment’s tour of duty.]
Monday 17 May 1993
The Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) stated that it would look at the results of the local government elections on 19 May 1993 to see if there was any evidence of “pan-Nationalist candidates” co-operating with each other.
Tuesday 17 May 1994
Two Catholics Killed by UVF
Eamon Fox (42) and Gary Convie (24), both Catholic civilians, were shot dead by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at a building site on North Queen Street, in the Tiger Bay area of Belfast.
A review of the working of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act recommended that police interviews should be taped.
Wednesday 17 May 1995
Unemployment in Northern Ireland in April 1995 was recorded as 88,700 (11.8 per cent) the lowest it had been since December 1981
Saturday 17 May 1997
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), held a meeting with officials representing the Irish government at an undisclosed venue in Dublin. John Bruton, the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), said afterwards that the meeting was to establish if the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was prepared to call a new ceasefire.
Sunday 17 May 1999
Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, said there was no “plan B” if the Agreement was rejected in the referendum. Blair and Bill Clinton, then President of the United States of America (USA), issued a joint statement urging people to recognise the opportunities offered by the Agreement and to vote ‘Yes’.
Monday 17 May 1999
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) issued a blunt warning that it would not change its position on decommissioning before, during or after next month’s European election. David Trimble, then First Minister designate, challenged Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, to state whether, in the British government’s view, devolution could proceed without the start of “actual decommissioning”.
In the Republic of Ireland 42 candidates were nominated for the European election on 11 June 1999. Fianna Fáil (FF) put forward eight candidates, Fine Gael seven, Labour five, Sinn Féin four, Natural Law Party four, and the Green Party three. For the first time there was no PD candidate.
Thursday 17 May 2001
Sean MacStiofain (73), former Chief of Staff of the (Provisional) Irish Republican Army (IRA), died in a hospital in the Republic of Ireland after a long illness. He became Chief of Staff of the Provisionals after they split from the Official IRA in 1970.
[MacStiofain had been born John Stephenson in London.]
Death
In 1993, Mac Stíofáin suffered a stroke. On 18 May 2001, he died in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan, County Meath, after a long illness at the age of 73. He is buried in St Mary’s Cemetery, Navan.
Despite his controversial career in the IRA, many of his former comrades (and rivals) paid tribute to him after his death. Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, who attended the funeral, issued a glowing tribute, referring to Mac Stíofáin as an “outstanding IRA leader during a crucial period in Irish history” and as the “man for the job” as first Provisional IRA Chief of Staff. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness also attended. In her oration, Ita Ní Chionnaigh of Conradh na Gaeilge, whose flag draped the coffin, lambasted Mac Stíofáin’s “character assassination” by the “gutter press” and praised him as a man who had been “interested in the rights of men and women and people anywhere in the world who were oppressed, including Irish speakers in Ireland, who are also oppressed.
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.
50 People lost their lives on the 17th between 1972 – 1990
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17 May 1972
Bernard Moane (46)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Found shot by Knockagh War Memorial, near Greenisland, County Antrim.
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17 May 1972 Ronald Hurst (25)
nfNI Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot while working on perimeter fencing outside Crossmaglen Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) / British Army (BA) base, County Armagh.
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17 May 1973 Michael Leonard (22)
nfNI Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)
From County Donegal. Shot while driving his car, being pursued by Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) vehicle, Letter, near Pettigoe, County Fermanagh.
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17 May 1973
Eileen Mackin (14)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY)
Shot by sniper while walking along Springhill Avenue, Ballymurphy, Belfast.
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17 May 1973
Thomas Ward (34)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Shot during bomb and gun attack on Jubilee Arms, Lavinia Street, off Ormeau Road, Belfast.
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17 May 1973 Arthur Place (29)
nfNI Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Killed by booby trap bomb while getting into car, outside Knock-na-Moe Castle Hotel, Omagh, County Tyrone.
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17 May 1973 Derek Reed (28)
nfNI Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Killed by booby trap bomb while getting into car, outside Knock-na-Moe Castle Hotel, Omagh, County Tyrone.
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17 May 1973 Sheridan Young (26)
nfNI Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Killed by booby trap bomb while getting into car, outside Knock-na-Moe Castle Hotel, Omagh, County Tyrone. .
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17 May 1973 Barry Cox (28)
nfNI Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Killed by booby trap bomb while getting into car, outside Knock-na-Moe Castle Hotel, Omagh, County Tyrone.
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17 May 1973 Frederick Drake (25)
nfNI Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Injured by booby trap bomb while getting into car, outside Knock-na-Moe Castle Hotel, Omagh, County Tyrone. He died 3 June 1973
Killed by: non-specific Republican group (REP)
Shot, together with his brother, at their business premises, Dungannon Street, Moy, County Tyrone.
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17 May 1976 Thomas Dobson (38)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Republican group (REP)
Shot, together with his brother, at their business premises, Dungannon Street, Moy, County Tyrone.
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17 May 1976
James Gallagher (20)
Catholic Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot while travelling on bus which was passing Fort George British Army (BA) base, Strand Road, Derry.
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17 May 1986
David Wilson (39)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot while driving his firm’s van, Donaghmore, County Tyrone.
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17 May 1991
Douglas Carruthers (41)
Protestant Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Killed by booby trap bomb attached to his car while driving near to his home, Mullybritt, Lisbellaw, County Fermanagh.
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17 May 1994
Eamon Fox (42)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Shot, while sitting in stationary car, at his workplace, building site, North Queen Street, Tigers Bay, Belfast.
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17 May 1994
Gary Convie (24)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Shot, while sitting in stationary car, at his workplace, building site, North Queen Street, Tigers Bay, Belfast
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Tomorrow is the anniversary of this brutal attack by the UVF.
They killed 33 civilians and a full-term unborn child, and injured almost 300.
Dublin and Monaghan Bombings
17 May 1974
The views and opinions expressed in this page and documentaries are soley intended to educate and provide background information to those interested in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. They in no way reflect my own opinions and I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies or factual errors
The Dublin and Monaghan
The Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 were a series of co-ordinated no-warning car bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. Three exploded in Dublin during rush hour and a fourth exploded in Monaghan almost ninety minutes later. They killed 33 civilians and a full-term unborn child, and injured almost 300. The bombings were the deadliest attack of the conflict known as the Troubles, and the deadliest terrorist attack in the Republic’s history.[2] Most of the victims were young women, although the ages of the…
Troopers of the Blues and Royals at the Trooping the Colour parade, London, 2007
Formation
The regiment was formed in 1969 from the merger of the Royal Horse Guards, which was known as “the Blues” or “the Oxford Blues”, and the Royal Dragoons, which was known as “the Royals”.
Since then, the new regiment has served in Northern Ireland, Germany, and Cyprus. During the Falklands War of 1982, the regiment provided the two armoured reconnaissance troops. The regiment also had a squadron on operational duty with the United Nations in Bosnia in 1994–95. Most recently, the regiment saw action in the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan.
As a result of the Options for Change Review in 1991, the Blues and Royals formed a union for operational purposes with the Life Guards as the Household Cavalry Regiment. However, they each maintain their regimental identity, with distinct uniforms and traditions, and their own colonel. The Blues and Royals currently has two reconnaissance squadrons in Windsor, which are part of the Household Cavalry Regiment, and a mounted squadron in London as part of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regimen.
Regimental traditions
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Blues and Royals Quick March
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Instead of being known as the Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons, the regiment is known as the Blues and Royals and is therefore the only regiment in the British Army to be officially known by their nickname as opposed to their full name.
Newly commissioned officers in the Blues and Royals are named Cornets, rather than Second Lieutenants as is the standard in the rest of the British Army. The rank of sergeant does not exist in the Household Cavalry. The equivalent is Corporal of Horse, which also applies to any other ranks with the word sergeant in it, such as Regimental Sergeant Major, which is replaced by Regimental Corporal Major. King Edward VII also declared the rank of Private should be replaced by the rank of Trooper in the cavalry.
This set the precedent for the usage of Trooper instead of Private in other cavalry units, such as those of the modern Royal Armoured Corps.
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The Queens Cavalry – BBC – Full Video
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The Blues and Royals is the only regiment in the British Army that allows troopers and non-commissioned officers, when not wearing headdress, to salute an officer. The custom started after the Battle of Warburg in 1760 by the Marquess of Granby, who commanded both the Royal Horse Guards and the Royal Dragoons, which were separate units at the time. During the battle, the Marquess had driven the French forces from the field, losing both his hat and his wig during the charge. When reporting to his commander, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, in the heat of the moment he is said to have saluted without wearing his headdress, having lost it earlier. When the Marquess of Granby became the Colonel of the Blues, the regiment adopted this tradition.
Further, the Blues and Royals and the Life Guards are the only two units in the British forces that are not required to remove their headdress indoors, unless they are inside a church.
When the Household Cavalry mounts an escort to the Sovereign on State occasions, a ceremonial axe with a spike is carried by a Farrier Corporal of Horse. The historical reason behind this is that when a horse was wounded or injured so seriously that it could not be treated, its suffering was ended by killing it with the spike. The axe is also a reminder of the days when the Sovereign’s escorts accompanied royal coaches and when English roads were very bad. Horses often fell, becoming entangled in their harnesses and had to be freed with the cut of an axe. It is also said that, in those times, if a horse had to be put to death, its rider had to bring back a hoof, cut off with the axe, to prove to the Quartermaster that the animal was in fact dead, thereby preventing fraudulent replacement. Today, the axe remains as a symbol of the Farrier’s duties.
Uniform
On ceremonial occasions, the Blues and Royals wear a blue tunic (inherited from the Royal Horse Guards, also known as “the Blues”), a metal cuirass, and a matching helmet with a red plume worn unbound, and against popular belief the regiments farriers wear a red plume like the rest of the regiment but do not wear the metal cuirass. In addition, the Blues and Royals wear their chin strap under their chin, as opposed to the Life Guards, who wear it below their lower lip. On service dress, the Blues and Royals wear a blue lanyard on the left shoulder, as well as a Sam Browne belt containing a whistle. In most dress orders, the Waterloo Eagle is worn on the left arm as part of dress traditions.
The Blues and Royals, as part of the Household Division, does not use the Order of the Bath Star for its officer rank ‘pips,’ but rather the Order of the Garter Star.
Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
16th May
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Thursday 16 May 1968
In the Stormont (Northern Ireland parliament) by-election in the city of Londonderry (Derry) the Ulster Unionists retained the seat.
Thursday 16 May 1974
Day 2 of the UWC strike
Maureen Moore
Maureen Moore (21), a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by a Loyalist paramilitary gunman as she stood at the corner of Stratheden Street and Edlingham Street, New Lodge, Belfast.
The effect of the strike deepened with the engineering sector of the economy being the hardest hit. The use of intimidation (or ‘persuasion’ as the Loyalist paramilitaries preferred to call it) had a significant impact on the number of people who managed to get to work.
The strike began to have a number of effects on the farming sector with uncollected, or unprocessed, milk having to be dumped and fresh food not reaching shops. The Ulster Workers’ Council (UWC) issued a list of ‘essential services’ which were to be allowed to operate as normal and also issued a telephone number for anyone engaged in such work. The UWC also ordered public houses to close.
There was an outbreak of sectarian rioting.
The strike was the main subject of Northern Ireland ‘question time’ in the House of Commons at Westminster.
Paddy Devlin, a then member of the Executive, threatens to resign on the issue of Interment. Merlyn Rees, then Secretary of State, met with Loyalist leaders in Stormont. Mr Rees said that he would not negotiate with the UWC.
[One thing that became clear was that the timing of the removal of barricades by the police was tactically wrong. In many instances barricades were not removed until people had made an initial attempt to get to work. Having been turned back first thing in the morning few people were attempting to travel mid-morning or mid-afternoon when a number of roads would have been reopened. There were complaints about a lack of action, particularly to clear obstructions on roads, on the part of the British Army.]
Sunday 16 May 1976
Roy McIlwaine & William Martin
Two Protestant civilians were shot dead by Republican paramilitaries outside a Social Club, Alliance Road, Belfast.
Kenneth Nelson
An off-duty Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Benburb, County Tyrone.
Monday 16 May 1983
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) announced that they had kidnapped the wife of ‘supergrass’ Harry Kirkpatrick.
[Other members of the Kirkpatrick family were also kidnapped on 3 August 1983.]
Friday 16 May 1986
Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), spoke at a seminar in Amsterdam, Holland. Adams criticised the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA) saying that it secured the partition of the six counties of Northern Ireland.
Tuesday 16 May 1995
Malcolm Moss, then Northern Ireland Office (NIO) minister, shook hands with Mitchel McLaughlin, then Sinn Féin (SF) chairman, when the minister opened a shopping centre in Creggan Estate, Derry.
Thursday 16 May 1996
John Major, then British Prime Minister, was reported in an Irish Times (a Dublin based newspaper) article as having said that arms decommissioning would have to be addressed at the start of talks.
Friday 16 May 1997
Blair Keynote Speech
Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, travelled to Belfast to deliver an important speech on Northern Ireland. Blair reaffirmed his government’s commitment to the Framework Document, the Mitchell Report on decommissioning and the ground rules for entry into all-party talks.
Blair also said that he valued Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom (UK) and suggested that the Republic of Ireland should amend Articles 2 and 3 of its constitution. The Prime Minister also said that government officials would meet with representatives of Sinn Féin (SF) in order to allow a number of issues to be clarified.
Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), said that all those Loyalist paramilitary organisations represented by the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) had broken their ceasefire since it was declared in October 1994.
Saturday 16 May 1998
Security forces defused a car bomb, estimated at 500 pounds, which had been left outside the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in Armagh.
The bomb was discovered at 11.15pm and the area cleared before a warning was received at 11.30pm.
[The RUC were unable to say which dissident Republican paramilitary group was responsible.]
Larry O’Toole, then a prominent member of Sinn Féin, was shot and injured during a First Holy Communion church service for local children in Ballymun, Dublin. OToole’s son, Lar, was also shot by the gunman who was chased out of the church and later caught by a number of the pursuers.
There was a rally held in Lurgan, County Armagh, in support of the ‘No’ campaign. At the rally a message was read out from James Molyneaux, former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), who said that he would be voting against the Good Friday Agreement.
Sunday 16 May 1999
Members of Justice for the Forgotten, the campaign group representing families of those killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings on 17 May 1974, held a wreath-laying ceremony in Dublin.
The group called for a full public inquiry into the bombings.
Around 800 residents from the Garvaghy Road area of Portadown, County Armagh, held a meeting at which Brendán Mac Cionnaith, then spokesperson of the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition and independent councillor in Portadown, rejected rumours that a deal had been done to resolve the disputed Drumcree parade.
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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.
8 People lost their lives on the 16th between 1973 – 1990
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16 May 1973
Joseph McKenna (24)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY) Died two months after being shot from passing car, Grosvenor Road, Belfast.
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16 May 1974
Maureen Moore (21)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY) Shot by sniper while standing on corner of Stratheden Street and Edlingham Street, New Lodge, Belfast.
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16 May 1976
Roy McIlwaine (35)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Shot while standing outside Social Club, Alliance Road, Belfast.
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16 May 1976
William Martin (53)
Protestant Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Shot while standing outside Social Club, Alliance Road, Belfast.
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16 May 1976
Kenneth Nelson (28)
Protestant Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Off duty. Shot outside his home, Derryfubble, near Benburb, County Tyrone.
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16 May 1981
Patrick Martin (38)
Catholic Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) Shot at his home, Abbeydale Parade, off Crumlin Road, Belfast.
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16 May 1983
Gerard Cathcart (49)
Protestant Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Off duty. Shot outside his home, Linkview Park, Malone, Belfast.
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16 May 1990 Charles Chapman (34)
nfNIB Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA) Killed by booby trap bomb attached to British Army (BA) van, outside British Army (BA) recruiting office, Harrow Road, Wembley, London.
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" he began a turbulent and hedonistic adulthood in London "
The death of Clayton Darrell Lockett occurred on April 29, 2014, when he suffered a heart attack during an execution by lethal injection in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Lockett, aged 38, was convicted in 2000 of murder, rape, and kidnapping.
Lockett was administered an untested mixture of drugs that had not previously been used for executions in the United States.
Although the execution was stopped, Lockett died 43 minutes after being sedated. He writhed, groaned, convulsed,and spoke during the process and attempted to rise from the execution table fourteen minutes into the procedure, despite having been declared unconscious.
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Clayton Lockett tasered before bungled lethal injection
Clayton Lockett was born in 1975 to a drug-using mother. She abandoned him when he was three years old, and he was then raised by his father who severely physically abused him throughout his childhood, gave him (Lockett) drugs starting at age 3, and encouraged him (Lockett) to steal and not get caught.
Criminal History
In 1992, at the age of sixteen, Lockett pleaded guilty in Kay County to burglary and knowingly concealing stolen property. He received a seven-year prison sentence. Earlier that year, he pleaded no contest to two counts of intimidating state witnesses.
While imprisoned at age 16 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, a prison for adults, Lockett was gang raped by three adult male prisoners.
In 1999, Lockett kidnapped, beat, and shot Stephanie Neiman, a nineteen-year-old high school graduate, friend of Lockett’s other victims, and a witness to his crimes. The men beat her and used duct tape to bind her hands and cover her mouth. Even after being kidnapped and driven to a dusty country road, Neiman did not back down when Lockett asked if she planned to contact police. After she stated she would go to the police, Lockett decided to bury her alive.
Lockett ordered an accomplice to bury her while she was still breathing. She died from two wounds from a shotgun fired by Lockett.In 2000, he was convicted of murder, rape, forcible sodomy, kidnapping, assault and battery and sentenced to death. Previously Lockett was sentenced to four years in prison for a conviction in 1996 in Grady County for conspiracy to commit a felony.
At his 1999 murder trial, DNA from the dead victim, fingerprints from the duct tape used to bind the victim, and eye-witness testimony led to his murder conviction.
In 2011, Hospira announced that it would stop manufacturing sodium thiopental, due to use by American prisons for executions. “Virtually all” death rows in the US were left without a steady supply of the drug, which is used to numb the pain of potassium chloride stopping the heart. Some states bartered supplies of execution drugs, while other states were accused of illegally buying drugs from India and other sources. The Drug Enforcement Administration seized supplies of sodium thiopental from several states in spring and summer 2011, questioning how they were imported.
Other manufacturers have also refused to provide pharmaceutical drugs for the purpose of execution, and a European export ban added to problems obtaining the necessary drugs.
Due to the supply issues, Oklahoma used an untested mixture of midazolam, vecuronium bromide, and potassium chloride for Lockett’s execution. While Florida had previously used the same three drugs in a 2013 execution, they used 500 mg of midazolam rather than the 100 mg used by Oklahoma.
Secrecy laws in Oklahoma prevent the public knowing more than which three drugs were used. The state refused to state why that drug combination was chosen, what the drugs were like and how they were obtained. Reportedly, the drugs were bought with petty cash making the transaction harder to track and to challenge legally.
In a recent Florida case experts testified that midazolam would not cause unconsciousness. Instead of sedating some patients midazolam can make them violent. Dennis McGuire took 25 minutes to die; he gasped and snorted. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that if the first drug does not make the inmate unconscious there is an unacceptable risk of suffocation and pain from the two following drugs.
Potassium chloride causes severe pain if used without an anesthetic. Pharmacology professor, Craig Stevens of Oklahoma State University asked why anesthesiology or pharmacology experts were not consulted. “Midazolam has no analgesic properties. It’s a whole different drug class than sodium thiopental or barbiturates,” Stevens said. Stevens described dying from the other two drugs without anesthetic as “horrific”.
The drug combination used is considered too painful to euthanise animals. “Veterinarians in at least one state are barred from using a three-drug formula used on several inmates, including Clayton Lockett.”
Oklahoma GovernorMary Fallin had strongly pushed for the execution to take place despite the lack of standard drugs, initially issuing an executive order to proceed despite a stay by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. Republican allies of Fallin started impeachment proceedings against the justices who tried to delay the execution; the stay was later lifted. Lockett’s lawyers also unsuccessfully sought to force Oklahoma to reveal the source of the drugs, which the state refused.
Oklahoma officials testified that the drugs to be used in Lockett’s execution had been legally obtained and had not expired.
LaDonna Hollins
Before the execution, Lockett’s stepmother LaDonna Hollins was reported as saying,
“I want to know what mixture of drugs are you going to use now? Is this instant? Is this going to cause horrible pain?” and “I know he’s scared “.
He said he’s not scared of the dying as much as the drugs administered.
Failed Execution
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Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett dies brutal death after botched lethal injection
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Lockett’s failed execution occurred at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, on April 29, 2014, after he had been tasered by staff and attempted to cut himself earlier that day. After administration of the first drug at 6:23 p.m. CDT, Lockett was declared unconscious at 6:33 p.m, and the execution was halted after about twenty minutes. He was declared dead at 7:06 p.m. due to a heart attack.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton said one of the doctors present stopped the execution after Lockett had a “vein failure”.According to the Department of Corrections, the time for an inmate to be pronounced dead was 6 to 12 minutes in the previous 19 executions before Lockett’s.
After being declared unconscious, Lockett was able to raise his head and said, “Oh, man”, “I’m not…” and according to some sources,“something’s wrong”. Lockett began writhing at 6:36 p.m. and was observed twitching and convulsing. He attempted to rise from the table at 6:37 p.m. and loudly exhaled.A lawyer for Lockett reportedly said,
“It looked like torture.”
All three drugs had been administered to Lockett, but it was unclear how much entered his system. A vein in the groin was selected as the injection site, and a cloth was put over it to prevent witnesses seeing the groin area. This prevented staff from seeing that the IV connection had failed.Patton said “the chemicals did not enter into the offender”
Prison officials had reportedly discussed taking Lockett to a hospital before he died.
A subsequent report showed Clayton Lockett’s execution was halted 33 minutes after it began, his vein collapsed as the drugs were administered, and a doctor said there were not enough drugs left and that Lockett had not been given enough drugs to cause death; the doctor also said there were not enough drugs to continue.
The report noted:
The doctor checked the IV and reported the blood vein had collapsed, and the drugs had either absorbed into tissue, leaked out or both. […] Patton asked if enough drugs had been administered to cause death, to which the doctor replied “no”. The director then asked if another vein was available to complete the execution, and if so, were there enough drugs left. The doctor answered no to both questions.
Aftermath
Following Lockett’s death, a fourteen-day stay of execution was granted for Charles Frederick Warner, an Oklahoma convict who had been scheduled for execution two hours after Lockett with the same combination of drugs. Governor of OklahomaMary Fallin also requested a review of the execution process involved in Lockett’s death. Fallin’s intervention led to the execution which possibly violated separation of powers within the state.
Dean Sanderford, Lockett’s lawyer, witnessed the execution and complained “the planned review would not be independent”. Sanderford feared “investigation by state employees or agencies would not restore confidence in the execution process”.
Lawyers representing the next set of prisoners scheduled to be executed called for a moratorium on all executions. Madeline Cohen, an attorney for Warner, condemned the way Lockett was executed, noting that “Clayton Lockett was tortured to death,” also denouncing the state’s refusal to disclose “basic information” about the drugs for the lethal injection procedures.Democratic state representative, Joe Dorman calls for outside investigation into how Lockett died. He fears the planned review could “lead to suppression of critical evidence in the unlikely event that criminal wrongdoing is uncovered.”
A timeline issued by Robert Patton, director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, revealed that Clayton Lockett was tasered after refusing to be restrained and escorted to a medical room for an X-ray exam as part of the protocol leading up to his execution. During his medical exam officials found a cut on his right arm, but staff determined that sutures were not needed. The timeline also revealed that Lockett refused a food tray twice.
Mary Fallin
Patton also recommended in the letter to governor Mary Fallin that the state conduct a complete review of execution protocols, indefinitely suspend all executions, and investigate the circumstances surrounding the execution.
The White House said the execution “fell short of humane standards” President Barack Obama declared the action “deeply disturbing” and ordered attorney generalEric Holder to review the policy on executions.Obama cited uneven application of the death penalty in the United States, including racial bias (Lockett was African-American) and cases in which murder convictions were later overturned, as grounds for further study of the issue.
Governor Fallin said “the state of Oklahoma executed Clayton Lockett” amid media coverage that portrayed the execution as “botched”, The Telegraph calling it “barbarism” and “inappropriate in a civilized society”, noting “the idea of actually spectating while the victim is killed surely clashes with basic humanity.”
The executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, Richard Dieter, said the attempted execution of Lockett was a “torturous action” and thinks the execution might “lead to a halt in executions until states can prove they can do it without problems”.
He said the death penalty advocates should be “concerned about whether the state knows what it is doing”.
“Science experiment” to cause Lockett to “die in pain”
over the course of more than 40 minutes, the state had “disgraced itself before the nation and world”. US advocacy director of Human Rights Watch Antonio Ginatta said “people convicted of crimes should not be test subjects for a state’s grisly experiments” and that the “botched execution was nothing less than state-sanctioned torture”
A month after the execution Oklahoma state had not released the official log of the incident. Oklahoma State University and freedom of information campaigner, Joey Senat said, “They’re not complying with the law by this kind of delay.”
Lockett’s lawyers released the preliminary results of an independent autopsy on Lockett, conducted by forensic pathologist Joseph Cohen and commissioned by Lockett’s legal team. It suggested that the execution team failed to ensure the IV had been properly inserted. According to Cohen, the execution team made several attempts to insert IVs into Lockett’s arms and groin before inserting an IV in his femoral vein. However, they failed to ensure the IV went in all the way, resulting in the drugs being absorbed into Lockett’s muscle. The report also challenged the official claim that Lockett’s veins failed, saying that his veins were perfectly healthy.
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