26th of   August

Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles

Wednesday 26 August 1970

Robert Porter, then Minister of Home Affairs, resigned from the Stormont government.

[The official reason was given as ‘health’ but Porter later said that he had not been consulted about the Falls Road curfew. Initially Chichester-Clark, then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, took over responsibility for Home Affairs, but later appointed John Taylor who was very critical of the reform programme.]

Saturday 26 August 1972

Six people were killed in three incidents across Northern Ireland.

Tuesday 26 August 1986

The cigarette company Gallagher announced the closure of its factory in Belfast with the loss of 700 jobs.

Wednesday 26 August 1987

In a shooting in a Belfast bar two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). A number of bystanders were injured.

Monday 26 August 1991

The Northern Ireland Emergency Provision Act came into force in Northern Ireland.

Thursday 26 August 1993

John Wheeler (Sir), then a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) minister, gave an interview to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in which he said that “the IRA [Irish Republican Army] is already defeated”.

[The IRA issued a stateme Saturday 26 August 1995 There were scuffles between protesters and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers at a Royal Black Institution parade in Bellaghy, County Derry. Sinn Féin (SF) said that the party did not rule out the possibility of an international commission being established to oversee the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons. nt in reply on 27 August 1993.]

Saturday 26 August 1995

There were scuffles between protesters and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers at a Royal Black Institution parade in Bellaghy, County Derry. Sinn Féin (SF) said that the party did not rule out the possibility of an international commission being established to oversee the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons.

Tuesday 26 August 1997 Agreement on Decommissioning Body

The British and Irish governments jointly signed an agreement to set up an Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD). Marjorie (Mo) Mowlam, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, held a meeting with Ronnie Flanagan, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), where concerns were expressed at the state of the Loyalist ceasefire. U2, the Dublin pop group, held a concert at Botanic Gardens in Belfast before an estimated 40,000 people.

Wednesday 26 August 1998 Blair Visits Omagh

Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, paid a visit to the site of the bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone. Blair promised draconian legislation to deal with any paramilitary groups that refused to call a ceasefire. Sinn Féin (SF) said the new measures would amount to “internment in another guise”.

Thursday 26 August 1999

Marjorie (Mo) Mowlam, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, ruled that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire had not broken down. However, she said she was in no doubt the IRA was involved in the murder of Charles Bennett and said there was clear information about the organisation being implicated in the Florida gun-running operation. Unionists reacted with fury to the decision.

Human rights campaigners said they were concerned at the news that John Stephens was being promoted to Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Stevens was leading the inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane, a Belfast solicitor killed on 12 February 1989. However, Stevens said that much of the work of the inquiry would be completed before he took up his new position.

Sunday 26 August 2001

A man (46) was treated in hospital for gunshot wounds and other injuries following a paramilitary ‘punishment’ shooting and beating in County Tyrone. The man was attacked by a number of masked men in the living room of a house at Foyagh Road in Castlecaulfield. The attack happened just after 11.00pm (2300BST).

The British Army defused a second pipe-bomb in Shearwater Way in the Waterside area of Derry. It was the second device found in the street in two days.

[The attack was believed to have been carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries.]

Two ‘temporary’ classrooms in the grounds of Corpus Christi Chapel on Westrock Drive, Belfast, were badly damaged in a fire which was reported just before 8.00pm (2000BST). Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers who attended at the scene of the fire were attacked by people throwing stones. Two police vehicles were damaged during the violence.

[The bodies of three young men were found in two houses in west Belfast. It was believed that the three men had all taken drugs and alcohol at a party the previous evening. The police were investigating the possibility all three may have taken prescription drugs.]

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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.

14 People lost their lives on the 26th of  August between 1972 – 1987

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26 August 1972

Alfred Johnston,   (32)

Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed by remote controlled bomb, hidden in abandoned car, detonated when Ulster Defence Regiment patrol approached, Cherrymount, near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

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26 August 1972

James Eames,  (33)

Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed by remote controlled bomb, hidden in abandoned car, detonated when Ulster Defence Regiment patrol approached, Cherrymount, near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh.

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26 August 1972
John Nulty,  (26)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Found shot, Agnes Street, Shankill, Belfast.

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26 August 1972
Patrick Kelly,   (26)

Catholic

Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Found shot, Benwell Street, Lower Oldpark, Belfast

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26 August 1972
James Carlin,  (-9)

Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Died in premature bomb explosion at racecourse grandstand, Downpatrick, County Down.

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26 August 1972
Martin Curran,   (-9)

Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Died in premature bomb explosion at racecourse grandstand, Downpatrick, County Down

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26 August 1973
Owen Devine,  (24)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Found shot in derelict house, McClure Street, off Ormeau Road, Belfast.

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26 August 1974

Philip Drake,   (20) nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by sniper while on British Army (BA) mobile patrol, Drumbeg, Craigavon, County Armagh.

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26 August 1976
Thomas Passmore,   (68)

Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Father of Orange Order leader. Died seven days after being shot at his home, West Circular Crescent, Highfield, Belfast.

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26 August 1976

James Heaney,   (20)

Catholic
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Off duty. Shot outside his mother’s home, Andersonstown Grove, Andersonstown, Belfast

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26 August 1982

Francis McCluskey,   (45)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot from passing car while on his way to work, Mountainhill Road, Ligoniel, Belfast

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26 August 1986

Patrick McAllister,  (47)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot at his home, Rodney Drive, Falls, Belfast.

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26 August 1987

Michael Malone,   (35)

Catholic
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Plainclothes Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) member. Shot while in Liverpool Bar, Donegall Quay, Belfast.

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26 August 1987

Ernest Carson,   (50)

Protestant
Status: Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Plainclothes Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) member. Shot while in Liverpool Bar, Donegall Quay, Belfast

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