Come Here To Me!

An attempt to collate a chronological list of all the major incidents in Dublin during the conflict in the North. If I have missed any, please leave a comment.

1969
5 August – The UVF plant their first bomb in the Republic of Ireland, damaging the RTÉ Television Centre in Donnybrook. No injuries.
27 December – The UVF plant a bomb at the Daniel O’Connell statue on O’Connell Street. Little damage was done to the statue but the blast smashed windows in a half-mile radius.
28 December – The UVF detonate a bomb outside the Garda central detective bureau in Dublin. The nearby telephone exchange headquarters is suspected to have been the target.

1970
3 April – Garda Richard Fallon (44) is shot by members of Saor Eire during a robbery of the the Royal Bank of Ireland at Arran Quay.
26 March – A bomb damages an electricity substation in Tallaght. An anonymous letter claimed responsibility on behalf of the UVF.
2 July – A bomb damages the main Dublin-Belfast railway line at Baldoyle. Gardaí believed it was the work of the UVF.
13 October –  Saor Eire member Liam Walsh (35) is killed in a premature explosion when himself and another member Martin Casey were planting a device at a railway line at the rear of McKee army base off Blackhorse Avenue in Dublin. His funeral was attended by over 3,000 people.

Funeral of Liam Walsh (Saor Eire), O’Connell St, 1970. Note two revolvers. Photos were in possession of the late Paddy Browne

1971
17 January –  Daniel O’Connell’s tomb in Glasnevin Cemetery is damaged by a Loyalist bomb. No injuries.
8 February –  The Wolfe Tone statue at St. Stephen’s Green is destroyed by a Loyalist bomb. No injuries.
25 October –  Saor Eire member Peter Graham (26) is shot dead in his flat at 110 Stephen’s Green in an internal feud.
30 December –  PIRA member Jack McCabe (55) is killed in a premature bomb explosion in a garage, Swords Road, Santry. McCabe had been active in the IRA since the 1930s.

Pieces of the statue of Theobald Wolfe Tone on St Stephen’s Green, 1971. Credit – Irish Photo Archive

1972
2 February –  The British Embassy on Merrion Square is burned down in response to Bloody Sunday. A British-owned insurance office in Dun Laoghaire and Austin Reeds outfitters on Grafton Street are also petrol bombed. The Thomas Cook travel agency along with the offices of British Airlines and the RAF club on Earlsfort Terrace were also attacked.
28 – 29 October – A 12lbs bomb is planted in Connolly Station, Amiens Street by Loyalists but dismantled by the Irish Army before it went off. They are also responsible for leaving firebombs in bedrooms in four Dublin hotels (Wynns, The Gresham, The Skylon and The Crofton).
26 November – Loyalists plant a bomb outside the rear exit door of the Film Centre Cinema, O’Connell Bridge House injuring 40 people.
1 December –  Bus driver George Bradshaw (30) and bus conductor Tommy Duffy (23) are killed and 127 injured in the first Loyalist car bomb planted in the Republic close to the CIÉ Depot at Sackville Place off O’Connell Street. A second car bomb exploded 7 minutes before causing massive damage to Liberty Hall and many injuries.

1973
20 January –  CIE bus conductor Thomas Douglas (25) is killed and 17 injured in Loyalist car bomb in Sackville Place off O’Connell Street. The car used in the bombing had been hijacked at Agnes Street, Belfast.
3 August – Cashier James Farrell (54) is killed by the IRA during during an armed robbery while delivering wages to British Leyland factory, Cashel Road, Crumlin.
31 October – The IRA use a hijacked helicopter to free three of their members from the exercise yard of Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. On of those who escaped was Séamus Twomey, then Chief of Staff of the IRA who was later recaptured in December 1977.

1974
17 May –  Three no-warning bombs explode in Parnell Street, Talbot Street, and South Leinster Street during rush hour. 26 people and an unborn child are killed. Over 300 are injured. Italian restaurant owner Antonio Magliocco (37) and a French-born Jewish woman Simone Chetrit (30) are amongst those killed.
8 June – Tens of thousands attend the funeral march of PIRA volunteer Michael Gauaghan from Co. Mayo who died on hunger striker in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight.

Michael Gaughan’s IRA guard of honour passes Daniel O’Connell statue, 1974. Credit – corbisimages.com.

1975
22 March – The funeral of IRA member Tom Smith, shot dead during an escape attempt from Portlaoise Prison on St. Patrick’s Day, is attacked by Gardai. Three people, including a press photographer, are injured.
22  June – Christopher Phelan stabbed to death after he came upon the UVF attempting to place a bomb on the railway line near Sallins on June 22 1975.
11 September – An off-duty Garda, Michael Reynolds (30), is shot dead in St. Anne’s Park by two Anarchists Noel and Marie Murray, former members of Official Sinn Fein, following an armed robbery at the Bank of Ireland, Killester.
2 October – Official IRA member Billy Wright (35) is shot by members of the organisation in his brother’s hair salon on the Cabra Road. He died in hospital on 19 October. He was targeted after he made a statement to Gardai, implicating a prominent member of the Official IRA, about an armed robbery in Heuston Station that occurred in September 1973.
28 November – Two Loyalist bombs at the arrival terminal at Dublin airport injure eight and kill John Hayes (30), an Aer Rianta employee.

Funeral of IRA member Tom Smith attacked in Glasnevin, 1975. Credit – Coleman Doyle via Shane MacThomais.

Funeral of IRA member Tom Smith in Glasnevin, 1975. Credit – Coleman Doyle via Shane MacThomais.

1976
February – A 25 lbs. bomb explodes in the Shelbourne Hotel along with eight incendiary bombs in department stores and shops in the Grafton Street and Henry Street areas. There were no injuries. Loyalists were the main culprits.
21 July – Christopher Ewart-Biggs (55), British Ambassador to Ireland, and Private Secretary to the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Northern Ireland Office Judith Cooke (26) are killed by an IRA-planted land mine outside his official residence at Glencairn estate, Sandyford, South Dublin.

Scene after land mine destroys the car of British Ambassador to Ireland Christopher Ewart-Biggs. Credit – keptelenseg.hu

1977
7 September – John Lawlor (38), a suspected informer, is killed by the IRA in Timmons Bar (later called Leonard’s), on the corner of Watling Street and Victoria Quay.
5 October – INLA Chief of Staff and leader of the IRSP Seamus Costello (38)  is shot dead in his car on North Strand Road by OIRA member James Flynn.

1979
28 January – English salesman Arthur Lockett (29) is found dead in Ticknock in the Dublin mountains. He had been beaten with clubs by a number of men and left for dead. Lockett had been boasting in a pub that he had connections in the British Army. It emerged he had worked in West Germany for a time where he had business deals with both American and British army personnel at NATO bases.

1981
24 March – Members of Revolutionary Struggle shoot and injure Geoffrey Armstrong, the chairman of British vehicle-manufacturing company British Leyland and director of the Confederation of British Industry, while he gives a lecture in Trinity College. Before shooting, the gunmen shouted: “Everybody freeze, nobody move! This action is in support of the H-Blocks’’
18 July – 15,000 strong demo in support of Hunger Striker clashes with 1,500 Gardai close to the British Embassy in Ballsbridge. 200 people are injured, including 150 Gardai. Dozens are arrested and 1 million pounds worth of damage is caused.

The Battle of Merrion Street, 1981. (c) Irish Times

1982
19 February – Garda Patrick Reynolds (23) is shot dead by an INLA member at at 33 Avonbeg Gardens, Tallaght. Reynolds and four other police officers had burst into the flat where a group of armed INLA men were counting money from a recent bank robbery.
4 June – Senior Official IRA member James Flynn (40) is shot dead by the INLA outside Cusack’s pub, North Strand Road close to where he had killed Seamus Costello five years previously.

1983
25 March – Brian Stack (47), chief prison officer at Portlaoise, is shot by the IRA while walking along South Circular Road, shortly after leaving a boxing contest at the National Stadium. He dies in hospital on 29 September 1984.
24 November –  Don Tidey, an American supermarket executive, is kidnapped outside his home in Rathfarnham. He was rescued on 16 December after being held captive for 23 days. During the rescue, Pte Patrick Kelly of the Defence Forces and Trainee Garda Garry Sheehan are killed.

1985
20 August – Tyrone businessman Seamus McEvoy (46), a building contractor for the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary, is shot dead by the IRA at his home on Eglinton Road, Donnybrook. A statement said he had been repeatedly warned against doing work for the security forces but continued to supply materials and temporary huts for barracks and military border posts.

1986
22 March – A member of the Special Branch fire shots into the air on Prince’s Street North off O’Connell Street following scuffles while Gardai rearrest Irish Republican Eibhlinn Gleholmes after a much-publicised extradition battle.
8 November – UFF plant four small four explosive devices in O’Connell Street. No injuries.

1987
February – The UDA plant incendiary bombs in a cinema and cafe in Middle Abbey Street, a bonded warehouse in Mabbot Lane and a bookshop in Talbot Street. Only the device in the warehouse exploded but caused little damage.

1991
February – Loyalists plant two crude incendiary bombs in an O’Connell Street department store. They fail to go off.

1993
18 September – On the day of the All-Ireland hurling final, Loyalists claim responsibility for planting a small bomb and cutting communication cables near to Store Street Garda station.

1994
5 January – Two members of the Irish Army bomb disposal unit are injured when a parcel bomb sent by the UVF to the Sinn Fein offices in Dublin exploded during examination at Cathal Brugha barracks.
21 May – IRA member Martin ‘Doco’ Doherty (35) was shot dead by UVF gunmen in Widow Scanlon’s pub, Pearse Street after preventing two loyalist bombers entering a Sinn Fein fundraiser. A Sinn Fein supporter, Paddy Burke, was shot in the throat but survived. The gunmen left the scene in a car driven by a third man, leaving behind the holdall which contained an 18 lb bomb. The bomb’s detonator exploded as people attended to Doherty and Burke but the main explosives failed to ignite.
18 August – Prominent Dublin criminal Martin Cahill (45), known as The General, is shot dead in his car by the PIRA at the road junction where Oxford Road meets Charleston Road in Rathmines. The PIRA alleged that Cahill had connections to the UVF and had sold the group stolen paintings.
21 September – The UVF planted a 1.5 kg bomb on the Belfast–Dublin train. It partially exploded as the train neared Dublin Connolly railway station, wounding two people.

Aftermath of the shooting of Martin Cahill, 1994. Credit – Oisin (Broadsheet.ie)