#OTD in 1970 – Falls Road Curfew | Beginning in the afternoon, the British Army carried out extensive house searches in the Falls Road area of Belfast for members of the IRA and IRA arms.

At approximately 4.30pm a mixed patrol of British Army soldiers and RUC pulled up to no.24 Balkan Street, in the Lower Falls in west Belfast. They were acting on a tip-off from a ‘concerned resident’ about a stash of weapons hidden in the property. What happened next is widely seen as having changed the course […]

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#OTD in 1988 – At Milltown Cemetery in west Belfast, a gunman kills three mourners and injures at least 50 people attending a funeral for IRA members Maireád Farrell, Daniel McCann, and Sean Savage executed in Gibraltar.

Loyalist gunman Michael Stone kills three people at a funeral for IRA members (Maireád Farrell, 31, Daniel McCann, 30, and Sean Savage, 23,) who were executed in Gibraltar by SAS troops. Stone wanted to kill Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and others whom he believed to be members of the IRA. He claimed the attack […]

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#OTD in 1921 – Francis Xavier Flood (one of the six and youngest IRA Volunteers charged for crimes of high treason and murder) is executed by hanging in Mountjoy Gaol.

Francis Xavier Flood, known as Frank, was a 1st Lieutenant in the Dublin Active Service Brigade during the Irish War of Independence. He was executed by the British authorities in Mountjoy Gaol and was one of the men commonly referred to as ‘The Forgotten Ten’. Flood was the son of a policeman and the 1911 […]

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#OTD in 1988 – The Gibraltar Three | Three unarmed IRA members, Mairéad Farrell, Danny McCann and Sean Savage were shot dead by undercover members of the Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar.

Three members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) were executed by the British Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar, referred to as Operation Flavius. The three—Seán Savage, Daniel McCann, and Mairéad Farrell were believed to be mounting a bombing attack on British military personnel in Gibraltar. What is undeniable is that just before 4:00pm […]

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#OTD in 1922 – An Garda Síochána | Guardians of the Peace of Ireland is founded.

Prior to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921, Ireland was policed by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police. Needless to say, due to their loyalty to the old British regime and their association with the Auxilliaries and Black and Tans, the RIC was totally unacceptable to the vast majority […]

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#OTD in 1921 – The Clonmult Ambush | Twelve IRA volunteers were killed in Clonmult, near Midleton, Co Cork by British soldiers and Auxiliaries.

Irish Republican Army volunteers occupying a farmhouse in Clonmult, Co Cork were surrounded by a force of British Army, Royal Irish Constabulary and Auxiliaries. In the action that followed, twelve IRA volunteers were killed, four wounded and four captured. A total of 22 people died in the ambush and subsequent executions – 14 IRA members, […]

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#OTD in 1920 – Kevin Barry, an 18-year-old medical student, is hanged in Dublin for his part in a raid in which six soldiers were killed.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Kevin Barry was 18 years old when he was hanged in Mountjoy Jail on 1st November 1920. His death at such a young age is possibly the most poignant in Irish history. He is one of a group of IRA members executed in 1920-21 collectively known as […]

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#OTD in 1920 – IRA 3rd Cork Brigade personnel attacked a lorry carrying British troops from the Essex Regiment at the Toureen Ambush, on the road between Bandon and Cork.

Up until the ambush the 3rd West Cork Brigade Flying Column had not before engaged the British troops stationed in Co Cork in a proper battle. The Brigade had finished its training and to get it ready for combat it had to get in an engagement with the British soldiers. Under Tom Barry at Toureen, […]

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#OTD in 1920 – Sinn Féin County Councillor John Lynch of Kilmallock, Limerick was assassinated by British agents at the Exchange Hotel, Dublin.

At 1.15 am Captain Geoffrey Thomas Baggallay, a “one-legged” courts-martial officer had phoned Dublin Castle telling of John Lynch’s presence at the Exchange Hotel. A group of 12 soldiers entered the Exchange Hotel, wearing military caps and long black Burberry coats. They held the hotel porter, William Barrett, at gunpoint. After consulting the register they […]

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#OTD in 1920 – Kevin Barry is arrested after IRA Volunteers ambushed a lorry full of British Soldiers on Church St, Dublin.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann! Eighteen year old medical student Kevin Barry is captured following an ambush on British troops in Dublin in which one soldier is killed. On 1 November 1920, he would become the first Irish rebel to be executed by Britain since the 1916 executions, thus cementing his place […]

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