When Jack Lynch left Dublin on 9 August 1969 to begin his holidays in West Cork, he had cause to be both relieved and very apprehensive. Seven weeks earlier, on 18 June, he had led Fianna Fáil to a convincing general election victory. Lynch’s presidential-style leadership campaign echoed that of Éamon de Valera. Yet he … Read more
Just before 8pm on Friday 1 December 1972 a car bomb exploded at Eden Quay, beside Liberty Hall, injuring dozens of people and causing extensive damage. Fifteen minutes later there was another explosion at Sackville Place, killing George Bradshaw (30) and Thomas Duffy (23). Bradshaw was a bus driver, while Duffy was a conductor. Both men had … Read more
By the end of 1972 there had been several bomb attacks in Dublin and the border counties. Scares and false alarms were regular occurrences, causing much disruption and fraying nerves. Just before Christmas two teenagers were killed by a car bomb in Cavan town. Over the New Year a man and a woman were murdered … Read more
Fianna Fáil expected to lose the vote on the Offences Against the State Act and were preparing to go to the country on a strong law-and-order platform. Ironically, this meant that Fine Gael could be attacked as being soft on the IRA. Fine Gael TDs knew that Fianna Fáil was likely to win a general … Read more
During late August 1969, shortly after the violence that had shaken Belfast and elsewhere, Irish army intelligence gave their assessment of the situation to the Dublin government: ‘. . . some element of [the] IRA was certainly in action in Belfast during [the] night of 14th August . . . as in [the] Bogside, [the] … Read more