Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
7th April
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Friday 7 April 1972
Three members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) died in a premature bomb explosion at Bawnmore Park, Greencastle, Belfast.
Saturday 7 April 1973
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out a land-mine attack on a mobile patrol of the British Army and killed two soldiers near Newtownhamilton, County Armagh.
A member of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) was shot dead near his home in Armagh city.
Monday 7 April 1975
IRA Truce
Wednesday 7 April 1976
Elizabeth & Noleen Herron
Herron, William also died
Three members of a Protestant family were killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) when an incendiary bomb caused a fire in the drapery business below the Herron family home.
Friday 7 April 1978
Airey Neave, then Conservative party spokesperson on Northern Ireland, said that power-sharing no longer represented practical politics.
See Airey Neave- The Assasination of Airey Neave
James Callaghan, then British Prime Minister, held a meeting with Jack Lynch, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), at the European Community summit at Copenhagen.
[The talks helped to ease relationships between the British and Irish governments.]
Tuesday 7 April 1981
Joanne Mathers (29), a Protestant civilian who was acting as a census enumerator, was shot dead in the Gobnascale area of Derry, while she was collecting census returns. Republican paramilitaries were responsible for the killing.
Saturday 7 April 1984
John Hermon, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), denied there was a ‘shoot to kill’ policy being operated by security forces in Northern Ireland. He also said there was no cover-up in relation to events surrounding the killing of two Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) members at a vehicle check-point at Mullacreavie, County Armagh, on 12 December 1982.
See 12th December
Hermon did admit that two unarmed RUC officers had entered the Republic of Ireland for ‘observation purposes’ in December 1982. Wednesday 7 April 1993 Gordon Wilson met with representatives of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to try to persuade them to stop their military campaign. [Gordon Wilson had been injured, and his daughter killed, in the Enniskillen bombing on 8 November 1987. Following the meeting he said that he was saddened by the outcome.]
Thursday 7 April 1994
Protestant Woman Killed by Loyalists
See 6th April
Margaret Wright (31), a Protestant civilian, was badly beaten by a group of men, and then finally shot four times in the head, in a Loyalist band-hall in the Donegal Road area of Belfast.
[She had been invited to the hall on the evening of 6 April 1994 and was then killed by Loyalists who believed that she was a Catholic. There was strong condemnation of the killing in Protestant areas.
Ian Hamiltion (21), a Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member, was shot dead by the UVF on 12 April 1994 because they claimed he had admitted killing Wright. William Elliott (32), a member of the Red Hand Commando (RHC), a group associated with the UVF, was also shot dead on 28 September 1995 for his alleged part in the killing of Wright.]
Sunday 7 April 1996
(Easter Sunday) Republicans held a series of rallies to commemorate the Easter Rising of 1916. Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF), addresses a rally in the Bogside, Derry. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) issued an Easter statement which did not mention a renewed ceasefire.
See Easter Rising
Monday 7 April 1997
A Catholic chapel, Mullavilly in County Armagh, was destroyed by arsonists and a Protestant parish hall was also damaged in Dungiven, County Derry.
Gary Martin Quinn (33) was charged with four murders dating from 1989 and was also charged with being a member of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a covername used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
Tuesday 7 April 1998
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) rejected the Mitchell draft settlement paper which had been presented to the parties on 6 April 1998.
Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, travelled to Northern Ireland to be present during the final stages of the search for agreement. On arriving in Northern Ireland the Prime Minister said, ‘I feel the hand of history upon our shoulder’. Blair held a two hour meeting with David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), at Hillsborough Castle, County Down.
Wednesday 7 April 1999
Martin McGuinness, then Vice-President of Sinn Féin (SF), said the Irish Republican Army (IRA) would not accept decommissioning as a precondition to his party’s entry into a power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland.
Billy Armstrong, then Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Assembly member, described the Hillsborough Declaration as unacceptable. Sources in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) were reported as saying that the organisation would not decommission its weapons “to get Sinn Féin into government”.
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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.
16 People lost their lives on the 7th April between 1972– 1985
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07 April 1972
Charles McCrystal, (17)
Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Died in premature bomb explosion in garage, Bawnmore Park, Greencastle, Belfast
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07 April 1972
Samuel Hughes, (17)
Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA), Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Died in premature bomb explosion in garage, Bawnmore Park, Greencastle, Belfast
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07 April 1972
John McErlean, (17)
Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Died in premature bomb explosion in garage, Bawnmore Park, Greencastle, Belfast
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07 April 1972
Peter Sime, (22)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by sniper while on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Springfield Road, Belfast
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7 April 1973
Steven Harrison, (26)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed in land mine attack on British Army (BA) mobile patrol, Tullyogallaghan, near Newtownhamilton, County Armagh.
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07 April 1973
Terence Brown, (26)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed in land mine attack on British Army (BA) mobile patrol, Tullyogallaghan, near Newtownhamilton, County Armagh
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07 April 1973
James McGerrigan, (17)
Catholic
Status: Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA),
Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot near his home, Windmill Hill, Armagh.
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07 April 1975
Gerard McLaughlin, (21)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY)
Shot while walking to work along Carnmoney Road North, Glengormley, near Belfast, County Antrim.
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07 April 1975
Hugh McVeigh, (36)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Association (UDA),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Abducted while delivering furniture somewhere in the Shankill area, Belfast. Found shot, on information supplied to the British authorities, buried in wasteland, Gobbins, Islandmagee, County Antrim, on 1 September 1975. Ulster Defence Association (UDA) / Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) feud.
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07 April 1975
David Douglas, (20)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Association (UDA),
Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Abducted while delivering furniture somewhere in the Shankill area, Belfast. Found shot, on information supplied to the British authorities, buried in wasteland, Gobbins, Islandmagee, County Antrim, on 1 September 1975. Ulster Defence Association (UDA) / Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) feud.
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07 April 1976
William Herron, (64)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed during incendiary bomb attack on his drapery shop, The Square, Dromore, County Down. He lived above the shop
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07 April 1976
Elizabeth Herron, (58)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed during incendiary bomb attack on her drapery shop, The Square, Dromore, County Down. She lived above the shop
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07 April 1976
Noleen Herron, (26)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed during incendiary bomb attack on her parents’ drapery shop, The Square, Dromore, County Down. She lived above the shop.
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07 April 1981
Joanne Mathers, (29)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Republican group (REP)
Shot while collecting census forms, Anderson Crescent, Gobnascale, Derry.
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07 April 1983
Gerald Jeffrey, (28)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Died eight days after being injured by remote controlled bomb while on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Falls Road, Belfast.
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07 April 1985
Martin Love, (24)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot while walking along Factory Row, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh
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Belfast Child 