Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
14th June
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Wednesday 14 June 1972
John Hume and Paddy Devlin, both members of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), held a meeting with representatives of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Derry.
At that meeting the IRA representatives outlined their conditions for talks with the British Government. The conditions were that: there should be no restriction on who represented the IRA; there should be an independent witness at the meeting; the meeting should not be held at Stormont; and ‘political status’ should be granted to republican prisoners.
Thursday 14 June 1973
James Callaghan, then shadow Foreign Secretary, speaking in the House of Commons, said that Britain might reconsider its position with regard to Northern Ireland if the Assembly was ‘sabotaged’.
Monday 14 June 1976
Merlyn Rees, then Secretary of Sate for Northern Ireland, gave details in the House of Commons of a committee which had been set up to see how the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) could be more effective in enforcing law and order in Northern Ireland.
[This was an additional step in the policy of ‘criminalisation’.]
Thursday 14 June 1984
European Parliament Election
The election to the European Parliament took place in Northern Ireland with the whole region treated as a single constituency under a system of proportional representation.
[When the count was completed, Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), John Taylor, of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), and John Hume, then leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), were elected as MEPs. A total of eight candidates had contested the election]
Friday 14 June 1985
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded a large bomb, estimated at 1,000 pounds, in the centre of Belfast.
Thursday 14 June 1990
The Home Office in London announced that there were irregularities in the forensic evidence that led to the convictions of the Maguire family.
Wednesday 14 June 1995
The Irish Times (a Dublin based newspaper) carried a report of an interview with Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin (SF).
Adams was reported as saying that the decommissioning of Irish Republican Army (IRA) weapons as a precondition to SF entry into political talks was never mentioned by the British government before the IRA’s ceasefire on 31 August 1994. He went on to say that if such a precondition had been raised,
“… it is possible [that] there would have been no IRA cessation on September 1 last year.”
Friday 14 June 1996
The Northern Ireland Forum met for the first time in Belfast. Sinn Féin was excluded because of the absence of an Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire.
There are objections by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the United Kingdom Unionists (UKU) to the appointment of John Gorman, a Catholic Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) delegate, to the chair of the Forum.
Sunday 14 June 1998
A Protestant family living in a stately home on the outskirts of Derry suffered a third petrol bomb attack. It was believed that Nationalist living in a nearby housing estate were responsible for the attacks.
Monday 14 June 1999
Two men escaped injury when shots were fired at then in Sandy Row, south Belfast.
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) later stated that “it is more that likely that UVF personnel carried this [attack] out”.
[The shooting was believed to be connected to the killing on 11 June 1997 of Robert ‘Basher’ Bates.]
Counting was completed and the result of the European election was announced. The Methodist Church called for direct talks between the Orange Order and the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition (GRRC).
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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.
3 People lost their lives on the 14th June between 1974 – 1975
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14 June 1974
Peter Meaghan (37)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot from passing car while walking along Divis Street, Belfast.
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14 June 1975
Margaret O’Neill (56)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Shot from passing car during gun attack on pedestrians, New Lodge Road, Belfast
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14 June 1975
Joseph Branagh (35)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: non-specific Republican group (REP)
Security man. Shot outside Garden Bar, Meadow Street, Tiger’s Bay, Belfast.
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Belfast Child 