Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
15th July
——————————–
Wednesday 15 July 1981
Humphrey Atkins, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced that representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross have been invited to carry out an investigation of prison conditions in Northern Ireland.
[Over the next eight days the delegation meets with the two sides to the dispute but announced on 23 July 1981 that they were unable to help resolve the hunger strike.]
Monday 15 July 1985
Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister, delivered a speech to the American Bar Association in London. During her speech Thatcher referred to the role of the media during the conflict in Northern Ireland and said that it would be necessary to starve paramilitary organisations of “the oxygen of publicity”.
Sunday 15 July 1990
Two civilians were shot dead in separate incidents in Belfast and Lisburn.
Thursday 15 July 1993
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) released a statement in which the organisation admitted sole responsibility for the Dublin and Monaghan bombs on 17 May 1974. The statement was issued in response to the television documentary ‘Hidden Hand – the Forgotten Massacre’ broadcast on 6 July 1993.
Statement
“Following the sinister allegations of collusion mischeviously constructed by presenters of the recent First Tuesday programme which supposedly investigated the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. The UVF avails itself of this opportunity to state clearly and without reservation that the entire operation was from its conception to its successful conclusion, planned and carried out by our volunteers aided by no outside bodies.
In contrast to the scenario painted by the programme, it would have been unnecessary and indeed undesirable to compromise our volunteers anonimity [sic] by using clandestine Security Force personnel, British or otherwise, to achieve [an] objective well within our capabilities.
The operation whilst requiring a fair degree of preparation and not a little courage did not as was suggested by the so called experts require a great deal of technical expertise.
The comments made by some of those interviewed were at best naive if not deliberately misleading.
Given the backdrop of what was taking place in Northern Ireland when the UVF [were] bombing republican targets at will, either the researchers decided to take poetic licence to the limit or the truth was being twisted by knaves to make [a ] trap for the fools…The minimum of scrutiny should have revealed that the structure of the bombs placed in Dublin and Monaghan were similar if not identical to those being placed in Northern Ireland on an almost daily basis.
The type of explosives, timing and detonating methods all bore the hallmark of the UVF.
It is incredulous that these points were lost on the Walter Mittys who conjured up this programme.
To suggest that the UVF were not, or are not, capable of operating in the manner outlined in the programme is tempting fate to a dangerous degree.”
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Belfast, 15 July 1993.
Saturday 15 July 1995
John Hume, then leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), said it was his opinion that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) would “get rid” of its arms if Sinn Féin (SF) were included in political talks
Monday 15 July 1996
In a series of raids the London Metropolitan Police found components for making bombs at a number of addresses in Tooting and Peckham, London. The police speculated that the equipment would have been used in bomb attacks on utility installations in London and the south-east of England.
Seven men were arrested in the raids, and a man and a woman were later arrested in Birmingham.
It was revealed in a television programme (BBC’s Panorama) that David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), had held a meeting during the Drumcree stand-off with Billy Wright, then a leading Loyalist in Portadown.
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) accused David Trimble of being in breach of the Mitchell principles. Patrick Mayhew, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced the setting up of a committee to review parades in Northern Ireland (the Independent Review of Parades and Marches).
Tuesday 15 July 1997
Bernadette Martin (18), a Catholic civilian, was killed when she was shot four times in the head as she lay asleep in the home of her Protestant boyfriend’s parents at Aghalee, County Armagh.
Although no organisation admitted responsibility (‘no claim, no blame’) the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and Nationalists were certain that the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) was responsible for the killing.
[The manner in which Bernadette Martin was killed caused revulsion across Northern Ireland.]
Wednesday 15 July 1998
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) carried out a search of the ‘field’ at Drumcree where the Orange Order had been holding its protests. The RUC uncovered a home-made sub-machinegun, spent and live ammunition, a number of explosive devices, a five-gallon drum of petrol, two crossbows with over a dozen explosive-tipped darts.
The British government introduced the Northern Ireland Bill into the House of Commons. The Bill was designed to implement the various provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.
Thursday 15 July 1999
Failed Attempt to Form Executive
The attempt to form the Executive of the Northern Ireland Assembly collapsed when David Trimble, then First Minister Designate, and the other Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Assembly members failed to attend the sitting.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) also refused to nominate members to the Executive. An Executive of Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) members and Sinn Féin (SF) members was formed for a few moments, but was then disbanded because it did not have cross-community participation.
Seamus Mallon then made a statement in which he tendered his resignation from the position of Deputy First Minister designate and called upon David Trimble to also resign.
[The political developments meant that the British and Irish governments were forced to begin a review of the Good Friday Agreement. Marjorie (Mo) Mowlam, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, adjourned the Assembly.
[Mallon was reinstated on 29 November 1999.] An article written by David Trimble on Decommissioning was published in The Irish Times (a Dublin based newspaper).]
Saturday 15 July 2000
An 11 year old boy held an unexploded pipe-bomb for about an hour after it was found near a playground in Armagh. The boy was among a group of children who discovered the device beside a walkway on the Loyalist Ballinahone estate. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) said Loyalist paramilitaries could have hidden the bomb with the intention of using it that night or in the following days. It had been stored in a drainage hole in a wall beside the playground.
——————————————
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.
9 People lost their lives on the 15th July between 1972 – 1997
——————————————
15 July 1972
Felix Hughes (35)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Abducted somewhere in Portadown, County Armagh. Found shot in drainage ditch, off Watsons Street, Edenderry, Portadown, County Armagh, on 4 August 1972.
——————————————
15 July 1972
John Young (27)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed attempting to defuse bomb by side of road, Silverbridge, near Crossmaglen, County Armagh.
——————————————
15 July 1972
John Mooney (17)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: British Army (BA)
Shot while walking along Ligoniel Road, Ligoniel, Belfast.
——————————————
15 July 1972
Kenneth Canham (24)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by sniper while on British Army (BA) foot patrol, Lenadoon Avenue, Belfast
——————————————
15 July 1977
William Hutchinson (33)
Protestant
Status: Ulster Defence Association (UDA),
Killed by: Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
Found shot off Old Glencairn Road, Belfast. Alleged informer.
——————————————
15 July 1979
Patrick O’Hanlon (69)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot in car park of Falls Bowling Club, Andersonstown Road, Belfast
——————————————
15 July 1990
William Sloss (31)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish People’s Liberation Organisation (IPLO)
Shot at his home, Tate’s Avenue, off Lisburn Road, Belfast.
——————————————
15 July 1990
Martin Hughes (33)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Shot outside his home, Huguenot Drive, Lisburn, County Antrim.
——————————————
15 July 1997
Bernadette Martin (18)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF)
Shot, at her friends home, Soldierstown Road, Aghalee, County Antrim.
——————————————
Belfast Child 