May 17: TODAY in Irish History:
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Today in Irish History: Curated by Conor Cunneen IrishmanSpeaks
Chicago Motivational Humorous Business Speaker, Author and History buff. 
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ON THIS DAY
1650: Oliver Cromwell finally secures Clonmel after a siege that commenced April 28/29th.
Cromwell’s 8,000 men eventually took the Co. Tipperary town from its 2,000 Irish defenders, but they suffered astonishing losses for a single campaign. Estimates suggest that Cromwell lost between 2,000-2,500 men in battle against the Irish led by Hugh O’Neill, cousin of the fames Owen Roe O’Neill. Low on ammunition and food, O’Neill and his troops withdrew under cover of darkness much to the chagrin of Cromwell who believed a negotiated surrender would include the surrender of the Irish forces.
Unlike Drogheda, the previous year where English troops slaughtered as many as 2,000 surrendered Irish. Cromwell’s troops kept to the surrender terms and spared the population.
Oliver Cromwell 1599-1658
1974: On the morning of May 17 1974, four cars are stolen in Belfast. That evening, they would explode without warning in Dublin and Monaghan resulting in the deaths of 34 civilians and injuries to more than 300. The bombings were the worst single atrocity in Ireland during the “Troubles.” No one was ever charged in relation to the atrocity.
The bombings were a Loyalist reaction to the Sunningdale Agreement and attempts to introduce power sharing between Loyalist and Nationalists in Northern Ireland.
In Dublin, after the bombs went off during rush-hour, the scene was one of carnage with dead, dying and thought to be dead brought to make shift mortuaries. Fifteen year old Derek Byrne regained consciousness at the morgue where he had been pronounced dead. “I was just lying on the table. It was full of bodies. I just let out a scream. The mortuary attendant then let out a scream.”
The Irish Press reported:
“Seconds after the blasts, as the pall of smoke rose from the streets, dazed survivors saw the normal home-going rush of people turned into a scene of carnage. There were bodies, some limbless, some blasted beyond recognition, some burned, lying on the pavements. Scores of others badly injured and many knocked out by the blast or shocked by the impact were hurled into windows and side streets. For some time it was impossible to distinguish between the dead and the injured.”
Dublin 1974
The relatively lightly injured Liam Sullivan told the official Barron Report into the bombings what he saw at the hospital “I will never be able to explain what I saw over there. It was like a slaughterhouse. There were bodies everywhere and people being operated on.”
A number of official reports suggest that the Loyalist bombers had support from members of the British security forces in Northern Ireland. The Barron Report quotes the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mr. Merlyn Rees, in relation to a subversive faction in British Army Intelligence: ‘ It was a unit, a section out of control. There is no doubt it reflected the views of a number of soldiers.’ “ Let’s go in and fix this lot’’, and so on. But that it went on, and that it went on from Lisburn, and it went on from the Army Information Service and those associated with it, I have no doubt at all.’
The Garda Siochana (Irish police) and Irish Government has also been criticized about events following the bombing. Some early strong evidence was not pursued; evidence disappeared including a car registration plate with a fingerprint of one of the suspected bombers.
Barron reported: “The Garda investigation failed to make full use of the information it obtained. Certain lines of inquiry that could have been pursued further in this jurisdiction were not pursued”
The Irish Government reaction in trying to find the killers has been criticized as been lack-luster and uninterested. This may have been a deliberate decision due to the incredibly high tensions of the time. Had the involvement of British security forces become public knowledge, it would have caused an absolute firestorm of emotion and almost certainly even further substantial violence.
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FOR FURTHER DETAIL:
UVF Statement Admitting Responsibility for Bombing
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Want to learn more about Ireland? See these images and more in the acclaimed For the Love of Being Irish
BUY Quality Quality Guinness and Ireland Rugby Shirts
For the Love of Being Irish written by Chicago based Corkman Conor Cunneen and illustrated by Mark Anderson which is an A-Z of all things Irish. This is a book that contains History, Horror, Humor, Passion, Pathos and Lyrical Limericks that will have you giving thanks (or wishing you were) For the Love of Being Irish
Watch For the Love of Being Irish author Conor Cunneen – IrishmanSpeaks on his Youtube channel IrishmanSpeaks. Laugh and Learn.
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This history is written by Irish author, business keynote speaker and award winning humoristIrishmanSpeaks – Conor Cunneen. If you spot any inaccuracies or wish to make a comment, please don’t hesitate to contact us via the comment button.
Visit Conor’s YouTube channel IrishmanSpeaksto Laugh and Learn. Tags: Best Irish Gift, Creative Irish Gift, Unique Irish Gifts, Irish Books, Irish Authors, Today in Irish HistoryTODAY IN IRISH HISTORY (published by IrishmanSpeaks)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Shields
Want to learn more about Ireland? See these images and more in the acclaimed For the Love of Being Irish
BUY Quality Quality Guinness and Ireland Rugby Shirts
For the Love of Being Irish written by Chicago based Corkman Conor Cunneen and illustrated by Mark Anderson which is an A-Z of all things Irish. This is a book that contains History, Horror, Humor, Passion, Pathos and Lyrical Limericks that will have you giving thanks (or wishing you were) For the Love of Being Irish
Watch For the Love of Being Irish author Conor Cunneen – IrishmanSpeaks on his Youtube channel IrishmanSpeaks. Laugh and Learn.
___________________________________
This history is written by Irish author, business keynote speaker and award winning humoristIrishmanSpeaks – Conor Cunneen. If you spot any inaccuracies or wish to make a comment, please don’t hesitate to contact us via the comment button.
Visit Conor’s YouTube channel IrishmanSpeaksto Laugh and Learn. Tags: Best Irish Gift, Creative Irish Gift, Unique Irish Gifts, Irish Books, Irish Authors, Today in Irish History
Today In Irish History 