#OTD in 1921 – Belfast’s Bloody Sunday.

10/07/2018.Reading time 12 minutes.

Bloody Sunday or Belfast’s Bloody Sunday was a day of violence in Belfast on 10 July 1921, during the Irish War of Independence. In retaliation for an IRA ambush of a police raiding party, Protestant loyalists attacked Catholic enclaves, burning homes and businesses. This sparked gun battles between republican and loyalist paramilitaries, and street fighting […]

#OTD in 1972 – Springhill Massacre: British snipers shot dead five Catholic civilians and wounded two others in Springhill, Belfast.

09/07/2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

The Springhill Massacre was a shooting incident on 9 July 1972 in the Springhill estate in west Belfast. Five civilians were killed by British Army snipers firing from a timber yard. Army snipers took up positions in Corry’s timber yard and reinforced them with sandbags. Two cars pulled into Springhill and the snipers fired two […]

#OTD in 1981 – Death of Joe McDonnell, from Lenadoon, Belfast, after 61 days on hunger strike.

08/07/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

Fuair siad bás ar son Saoirse na hÉireann. Joe McDonnell was a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who died in the 1981 Irish hunger strike. McDonnell was born on Slate Street in the Falls Road of west Belfast on 14 Sept 1951, and was the fifth of 10 children and went to […]

#OTD in 2016 – Northern Ireland fans and Republic of Ireland fans received the Medal of the City of Paris on Thursday as a mark of gratitude for their “exemplary behaviour” in the city during Euro 2016.

07/07/2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Northern Ireland fans and Republic of Ireland fans received the Medal of the City of Paris as a mark of gratitude for their “exemplary behaviour” in the city during Euro 2016. Mayor Hidalgo said that Parisians and visitors to the city were “charmed and impressed by their kindness, their chants and their good humour”. Representatives […]

#OTD in Irish History – 29 June:

29/06/2018.Reading time 11 minutes.

In the Liturgical calendar, today is the Feast Day of Saint Peter and Paul. 1315 – The Irish annals state that Edward de Brus “took the hostages and lordship of the whole province of Ulster without opposition and they consented to him being proclaimed King of Ireland and all the Gaels of Ireland agreed to […]

#OTD in 1922 – The Four Courts garrison kidnaps Free State General JJ O’Connell in retaliation for the arrest of Leo Henderson I/C Belfast Boycott.

27/06/2018.Reading time 8 minutes.

On 26 June 1922, a raiding party of anti-Treaty IRA men arrived at Ferguson’s garage on Dublin’s Baggot Street, accusing them of doing business with Belfast. They said, it was in violation of the boycott the IRA had placed on the city due to violence against nationalists there. Leo Henderson, their leader, seized a number […]

#OTD in 2014 – Author and activist, Gerry Conlon dies of cancer, aged 60.

21/06/2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

“I have been in prison for something I did not do. I am totally innocent. The Maguire Seven are innocent. Let’s hope the Birmingham Six are freed.” Gerry Conlon, was one of the so-called Guildford Four, convicted on fabricated evidence of the Guildford pub bombings in 1974 which killed five people and injured dozens more; […]

#OTD in Irish History – 19 June:

19/06/2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

1647 – James, Duke of Ormond, agrees to surrender Dublin to English Parliament. 1798 – The United Irishmen Rebellion: The Battle of Ovidstown. 1820 – The Dublin Society for Improving Husbandry, which was originally founded on 25 June in 1731, becomes the Royal Dublin Society on this date. 1841 – Birth in Roscommon of Sir […]

#OTD in 1994 – Loughinisland Massacre: The UVF shot dead six Catholic civilians and wounded five others during a gun attack on a pub in Loughinisland, Co Down.

18/06/2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

While the Republic of Ireland – Italy game is going on, two members of the Loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force walk into The Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co Down with assault rifles and kill six Catholics who are watching the game. One of the dead was 87-year-old Barney Green, the oldest victim of the Troubles. No […]

#OTD in Irish History – 18 June:

18/06/2018.Reading time 11 minutes.

1264 – The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in Co Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature. 1329 – The Bishop of Ossory is charged with fomenting feuds among the magnates; he flees to England and then, when summoned before the king, he flees to Rome. The king (Edward III, aged […]

Stair na hÉireann/History of Ireland

Tag: Northern Ireland