Over 300 Injured and 33 Dead
And Still No Justice for Victims
THE DUBLIN AND MONAGHAN BOMBINGS
By Joe Tiernan
ISBN 1-8563-5320-6
Reviewed by Sharon Greer
The largest bombing campaign in Ireland's history is graphically detailed in Joe Tiernan's
agonizing account, The Dublin and Monaghan Bombings.
The deeply disturbing details of the deaths of several of the 33 victims who died in the monstrous 1974 loyalist bombings of Dublin and Monaghan are vividly and excruciatingly
described in this harrowing book.
At approximately 5:30 PM on Friday, May 17, 1974, as hundreds of shoppers, factory and office workers made their way through Dublin city centre, three massive car bombs exploded on Parnell, Talbot and South Leinster Streets, killing 26 people.
Within 90 minutes a fourth blast ripped through Monaghan town on the border of Northern
Ireland, slaughtering seven more. Over 300 people were injured in these explosions, not to mention the horror suffered by the families and friends connected to them.
Tiernan gives an in-depth chronology on the perpetrators and victims lives. With exceptional insight he shows us the workings of the twisted, diabolical minds of the psychopathic bombers who had no qualms or remorse about taking human life.
In one heart-rending description, he recounts the explosion that killed a family of four - mother, father and their two baby daughters, one 17 months, the other seven months. "A short time later the mutilated body of one of the babies was found in the bar cellar where it had been blasted through the footpath grating which was used to lower barrels and crates of beer from delivery lorries to the pub."
At times, even more distressing than the atrocities themselves, are the revelations that in spite of the fact that Irish police were aware of who committed this savagery, not one person has ever been charged in connection with these vicious crimes.
The Gardai (Republic of Ireland's police force) could not get any cooperation or information from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (former name of Northern Ireland's police force) pertaining to the brutal loyalist thugs who committed this heinous crime. They have only been met with stony silence and the deafening sound of denial.
Tiernan lists 25 Northern Ireland loyalists suspected of involvement in these bombings in the addendum. He also suggests collaboration between these same loyalists and some
members of the British army.
It was this gross injustice and the cover up by police above all that drove Tiernan to write this engrossing and tragic story. He was chief researcher on a 1990's ITV documentary covering the 1974 bombings.
And you get a strong sense from his book that his only wish is that some day families for the victims will get retribution and long awaited justice for the horrendous and grisly acts committed upon their loved ones.
To order copies of The Dublin and Monaghan Bombings, telephone: 011-353-86-367-9300, or e-mail: inf@dublinmonaghan@com. For more information, visit: www.dublinmonaghan.com.
[Special thanks to Al McCabe for giving The Dublin and Monaghan Bombing to The Celtic Connection for review.]
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