McGinn, who laughed when he received his life sentence, died in December 2013 from a suspected heart attack in Monaghan town, aged 56. "Orde visit seen as farewell to Army", by Phillp Bradfield. 24 July 1990 Joshua Willis (35), William Hanson (37) and David Sterritt (34), all members of the RUC, and, 1 March 24-year-old Paul Sutcliffe, who came from. Despite British watchtowers with sophisticated surveillance equipment across south Armagh from the mid-1980s, various ex-Irish and British security personnel agree that the . Since then the security forces travel by helicopter for security reasons.". [15] In response, the British government stated that it was dispatching the Special Air Service (SAS) to South Armagh, although the SAS had been present in the area for many years. A sniper rifle and other weapons were recovered. A group calling itself 'The Irish Freedom Fighters' claimed responsibility for his death, claiming that McGeary was a 'collaborator', but the killing was widely blamed on the Provisional IRA, who were accused of using a cover name to try and deflect blame for an unpopular action. He had just left children back to the school after they had attended a quiz the, 1 January 1986 James McCandless (39) and Michael Williams (24), both members of the RUC, were killed by a Provisional IRA remote controlled bomb hidden in a litter bin in Thomas Street and detonated when their foot patrol passed by at one minute into the new year. return cookieValue; [6], South Armagh has a long Irish republican tradition. This was the last action of the IRA Armagh Sniper teams. The County of Orange closed the application period for the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program on April 30, 2021. Discover your full benefits as a Premium subscriber. It is Pearse's message and it has not changed. $553 (2019) Beds. show_spinner: false, vars.user.subscriptionStartDate = subscriberCookie.subscriptionStartDate || ''; if (subscriberCookieStatus === "undefined") { 3 April 1993 - A British soldier was shot and injured by the IRA near Crossmaglen, South Armagh. The Sunday Independent has learned that the South Armagh 'OC' was outed as a 'tout' earlier this year and that shortly afterwards an IRA bodyguard team was sent from Belfast to ensure that no attack was made on the man in order to save embarrassment for the 'movement'. The board of finance Wednesday voted 4-2 in favor of using $300,000 in funding to repair the Grange Pool.Repairs to the nearly 60-year-old pool have been estimated between $300,000 to $350,000. if (isGrantedBy('purchase')) { The 'OC' is said to have bought another substantial portion of farmland in Armagh. 'none' : 'registration'; The IRA claimed that he was a member of the UDR, something that was denied by the police and army. He was finishing work building garages at the back of the Housing Executive offices on Dobbin Street when the gunman struck. He is a close associate of the Provos' Border boss, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, Gerry Adams and other figures in Sinn Fein. [26], In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the IRA elsewhere in Northern Ireland found that nine out of ten planned operations were aborted. bundle: 'none', The second most senior IRA man in South Armagh is being 'protected' amid claims that he worked as an agent for British intelligence, according to usually reliable security sources. }); The men were taken out of their minibus and then . He was identified as the IRA's chief technical officer by the Central Intelligence Agency. From that point onwards, the South Armagh 'OC' and his associates became millionaires while continuing to donate a reputed 25pc of their earnings to the 'movement'. [49] IRA members in South Armagh ceased co-operating with the RIRA after the Omagh bombing. He retired as president of Ireland's District Court and in 2006 went on to lead a tribunal of inquiry into alleged Garda collusion in the 1989 murders of two RUC officers in south Armagh. 'false' : 'true'; userID: purchase.granted_by_purchase.user_id, Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. His younger brother, a member of the UDR, had lost both legs in an IRA attack on the Mall in 1982. A British border patrol searches a lorry in 1969. window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; The south Armagh IRA even discovered ground not covered by the watchtowers for sniper attacks in the 1990s. It was one of the few times the SAS didn\u0026#039;t shoot members of an IRA \u0026#039;active service unit\u0026#039; on armed operations. return { "The fools, the fools, the fools, they have left us our Fenian dead. Overall, the South Armagh Sniper operation carried out by the IRA was one of the most successful operations of that era of the troubles. const getSubscriptionStatus = function (purchase) { On 17 February 1978 the commander of the 2nd Battalion Royal Green Jackets, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Corden-Lloyd, was killed and two other soldiers injured when the Gazelle helicopter he was travelling in was attacked by an IRA unit near Jonesborough. According to the victim's sister-in-law, who was present at the time of the incident, two masked men entered demanding money and fired two shots into the ceiling when Corrigan refused to hand over any cash. The incident caused outrage among South Armagh residents, provided the IRA with many new recruits and created a hostile climate where local people were prepared to tolerate the killing of security force members. subscriptionFinishDate: purchase.granted_by_app_purchase.finish_at, The team, which included Sinn Fein TD Caoimhghin O Caolain's brother-in-law - Bernard McGinn from Castleblayney, Co Monaghan - were sentenced to lengthy jail terms, but released in 2000 under the Good Friday Agreement. return; 31 July 1993 - A British Army mobile checkpoint was fired at by an IRA sniper at Newtownhamilton, County Armagh. premium_content: false, A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokesman confirmed that an investigation was underway, but also stated that both Sinn Fin Ministers and everyone attending the parade were unaware that "the proper paperwork hadn't been submitted". Sorry, we couldn't find what you're looking for. Martin McGuinness, then deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, gave the main oration, while Conor Murphy, then Minister for Regional Development, introduced the families of the dead IRA members. [20], During the mid-1980s, the brigade focused its attacks on the RUC, killing 20 of its members between 1984 and 1986. Whilst security forces arrested some south Armagh republicans in 1997, republican . [53], Senior IRA figures in South Armagh, notably Thomas Murphy, are alleged to have been involved in large-scale smuggling across the Irish border and money-laundering. if (eventType === 'access_resolved' || eventType === 'access_resolved ') { But there's more: discover your full benefits now. Neighborhood North of Turnpike Subdivision Pleasant Park. South Armagh IRA rocked as 'OC' is outed as a 'tout', It is not clear how the OC came to be exposed as an agent but he is believed to have been recruited by British Intelligence in the late 1980s or early 1990s. There were also frequent gun attacks on foot patrols. (function () { The \u0026#039;OC\u0026#039; is said to have bought another substantial portion of farmland in Armagh. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. item_group_code: "pfc_indo", meteredAccess: purchase.metered_paywall, McGinn, who laughed when he received his life sentence, died in December 2013 from a suspected heart attack in Monaghan town, aged 56. The Troubles in Armagh recounts incidents during The Troubles in Armagh City, County Armagh, Northern Ireland; the violence was substantial enough for a stretch of road on the outskirts of the city to be referred to by one RUC officer as "Murder Mile". // Regionals Container [12] IRA volunteer amon McGuire, a former Aer Lingus senior engineer, and his team claim that they were responsible for getting the British Army "off the ground and into the air" in South Armagh. Media. The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) operated during the Troubles in south County Armagh. In case of an emergency, do not send message, dial 911. The UDR member who fired the fatal shot was later brought to court on manslaughter charges but was found not guilty in the non-jury trial. } else { When there, Ms Smyth was followed upstairs by five men, who savagely beat and strangled her. When they arrived, they were surrounded by 16 SAS men, who ordered them to surrender. Watch: Peter Crouch sings the Fields of Athenry with Liverpool fans in Dublin pub, Teachers union claims it was excluded from new pay talks, Jay Blades made chancellor of former university and receives honorary doctorate, Badenoch clashes with MPs over menopause discrimination law, Search teams using every resource they can in hunt for Constance Martens baby. The Sunday Independent has learned that the South Armagh 'OC' was outed as a 'tout' earlier this year and that shortly afterwards an IRA bodyguard team was sent from Belfast to ensure that no attack was made on the man in order to save embarrassment for the 'movement'. The new Irish Sea Border: What does it mean? He had charge of the IRA's border sniper team, which killed seven soldiers and two police officers in the 1990s. In an area with a population of 23,000, the British Army stationed around 3,000 troops in support of the RUC to contain an unknown number of paramilitaries. script.src = flipPayJsUrl; Hair tattoos becoming increasingly popular among men in Ireland. console.log('observer.observe failed:', e); PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. South Armagh became the most heavily militarised area in Northern Ireland. 13 April 38-year-old Territorial Army sergeant Trevor Elliott from Alexander Gardens in the city is shot dead by the Provisional IRA as he walked from his shop in Keady, south Armagh. return key.indexOf('granted_by_') > -1; The high power capability of the Barrett rifles posed a significant threat to British security forces and helicopters, forcing both to limit patrols and thus allow the IRA more freedom of movement. His killing happened one day before his 30th birthday. [37] A sustained machine gun attack against a helicopter was filmed by a Dublin television crew in March 1991 outside Crossmaglen Health Center. At that moment, a gun battle was taking place on the ground between British soldiers and members of the South Armagh Brigade. He is said to have given the order for the brutal beating, which turned into the murder of Paul Quinn, the innocent 21-year-old who happened to have been involved in a violent row with another local Provo who had assaulted a young woman in October 2007. He was married and had nine children. if (isGrantedBy('app_purchase')) { Watch: Peter Crouch sings the Fields of Athenry with Liverpool fans in Dublin pub, Senior Tory begrudgingly backs Sunaks bitter pill Brexit deal as DUP split over support, Teachers union claims it was excluded from new pay talks, Jay Blades made chancellor of former university and receives honorary doctorate, Badenoch clashes with MPs over menopause discrimination law, Search teams using every resource they can in hunt for Constance Martens baby. The gunmen then escaped in a Ford Cortina which was found abandoned a short time later in the Windmill Hill area of the city. He was the only IPLO member to die while attacking state forces. A sniper rifle and other weapons were recovered. The South Armagh Brigade retaliated for the deaths of the hunger strikers by killing five British soldiers with a mine that destroyed their armoured vehicle near Bessbrook. subscriptionFinishDate: '0000-00-00T00:00:00Z', This page was last edited on 13 July 2022, at 18:49. 3 March Herbert Burrows, a 37-year-old Protestant civilian, is killed when a Provisional IRA booby-trap bomb which was attached to a door at his Alexander Road funeral parlour exploded, killing him instantly. Men from the area also took part in IRA campaigns in the 1940 and 1950s. Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan were returning from a meeting with the Garda Sochna in the Republic of Ireland, where they had been discussing a range of issues including ways of combating IRA attacks on the cross-border rail link, when they were ambushed. He is a close associate of the Provos' border boss Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, Gerry Adams and other figures in Sinn Fein. const getCookie = key => { if (vars.article.wallType === 'premium') { He regarded as exceptions the East Tyrone IRA unit, led by Jim Lynagh who was killed in an SAS ambush during an IRA attack on Loughall RUC base in 1987, and the "tight as a drum" South Armagh . Subsequently, the British Army gave up the use of roads to the IRA in South Armagh. }; 24 January Tony Harker, a 21-year-old Catholic civilian, is shot dead by the UDR in disputed circumstances outside a supermarket on the Keady Road. [7] The RUC recorded 1,255 bombings and 1,158 shootings around a radius of ten miles from the geographic centre of South Armagh in the same period. }; The dead youth, from the townland of Ballymoran just outside Armagh city, was learning to drive and had offered to put his father's car in the garage when the explosion happened. Travelling overland in South Armagh eventually became so dangerous that the British Army began using helicopters to transport troops and supply its bases - a practice that had to be continued until the late 1990s. } const subscriberCookieName = 'subscriber'; . return { script.type = 'text/javascript'; } 9 June - Peadar McElvenna, a 24-year-old Provisional IRA member from Convent Close in the city, is shot dead after an IRA attack on the RUC barracks in Keady, south Armagh. It is within the Ring of Gullion and in the 2011 Census it had a recorded population of 498. He was due to retire in five weeks. Hodder & Stoughton. From that point onwards, the South Armagh \u0026#039;OC\u0026#039; and his associates became millionaires while continuing to donate a reputed 25pc of their earnings to the \u0026#039;movement\u0026#039;. 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