UVF Bloody Massacre in Dublin & Monaghan, as 'The Troubles' spilled outside Northern Ireland.

Описание: I travel to Dublin to make a film about one such event, but you might ask why travel from Belfast to Dublin to make a 'Troubles' related film? Surely all that nonsense happened in the north of the country? And yes, that’s largely true. But sometimes, what’s not widely appreciated is how the trouble spilled over outside the confines of Northern Ireland. One of the worst examples of this was what was believed to be the IRA’s Birmingham Pub bombings in 1974, for example, which not only saw 21 innocent people killed, but 6 Irish people wrongly incarcerated for the crime, in what was one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British Legal history.

My trip to Dublin today looks at another such atrocity that took place in Dublin and simultaneously in Monaghan in the same year of 1974. It was carried out this time by the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force), an organisation that the British Government had only just removed from its list of prescribed organisations one month before. Mind you it was a further 19 years before the UVF admitted to the attack, although no one has been charged with the murders.

The attack was committed during the Ulster Workers Council Strike. Which was a general strike by loyalists and Unionists in opposition to the Sunningdale Agreement, which proposed the sharing of power with Nationalists and allowed the Republic a role in N. Ireland’s Governance. Not unlike the anglo-Irish agreement we have today.

We visit a monument to the innocent people that were killed. It stands at the end of Talbot Street where the worst of the 4 explosions that day happened. Three bombs exploded without warning and almost simultaneously in Parnell Street, South Leinster Street and in Talbot Street

The Monahan Bomb happened about 90 mins later so that in total 33 people died, and nearly 300 were injured, making this one of the worst atrocities of the troubles. Most of those killed were young women and an unborn 9 month old baby was also killed with its mother.

We walk down the street to the site of the attack.

What is most disturbing about this particular act of terrorism was the British Government’s indirect, or direct connection with it. Much has still to be revealed, as the British Government refuse to release documents that could shine light on the event for the victim’s families. The Irish police’s investigation stopped in its tracks and was criticised for doing so, although they claim to have been hampered by the British Government‘s failure to provide access to this classified information.

What has come to light is that all four UVF perpetrators where also members of the British Army’s Ulster Defence Regiment. Intelligence of the time also suggested that the bombs were highly sophisticated and unlikely to have been the work of the UVF without help from other parties.

One perverse quotation from a leading loyalist at the time, Sammy Smyth, then press officer of both the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Workers' Council 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."

Hard as it may be to comprehend the slaughter of these innocent people, its unfathomable that anyone could feel this way in the event’s aftermath. This attitude was by no means unique during the days of the conflict on both sides, but this statement I think is particularly chilling.

In 1993 Yorkshire Television exposed a story about the bombings and claimed that all four of these UDR/UVF men were agents for the British Intelligence Corps and the RUC Special Branch.

So, why would elements within British Security Forces want to implicate themselves or aid and abet in a mass murderous act against innocent civilians. I’m sure you’re as mystified as I am.

The 'Hidden Hand' documentary called 'The forgotten Massacre' suggested that a significant element within the British Security Forces were opposed to the labour Government of the time’s political attempts to find solutions to the Northern Ireland Crisis (i.e. Sunningdale). The collusion with loyalist paramilitaries and the bombings were designed to wreck the Sunningdale Agreement and favoured instead a British military solution to problem in NI. (see a link to this documentary below so that you can watch it and assess for yourself the quality of the journalism),

   • Hidden Hand the Forgotten Massacre Dublin ...  

It’s hard to end a film like this with my usual cheerful signoff, so I’ll simply say how amazing it is that we now life in more peaceful times. It would be great if other conflicts around the world could find similar political solutions to their differences, rather than mindless military ones that target civilians.

Peace.