1975 Dublin Airport bombing

Dublin Airport Bombing
Part of the Troubles
Dublin Airport around the time of the bombing
Location	Dublin Airport, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Date	29 November 1975
Attack type	2 Time Bombs
Deaths	1 civilian
Non-fatal injuries	10
Perpetrator	Ulster Defence Association (UDA)

A bomb attack took place in Dublin Airport on 29 November 1975, at the height of the sectarian tit-for-tat campaign in Northern Ireland by both Loyalist Paramilitaries from the Ulster Volunteer Force & Ulster Defence Association and Irish Republican paramilitaries like the Provisional IRA & the Irish National Liberation Army. Two bombs planted by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) exploded in the toilets area, killing one person and injured 10 other people. This was the fourth year in a row that Loyalists had bombed Dublin which resulted in fatalities, the most famous of which was the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of May 1974 which killed 34 civilians & injured 300 ^[1][2]

Background

Loyalists had been bombing Dublin since 1969, even before the Provisional IRA even existed.

• On 5 August 1969 a bomb damaged the front of the RTÉ Television Centre in Donnybrook, Dublin. The UVF claimed responsibility. This was its first attack in the Republic of Ireland.^[3]
• On 26 December 1969 The UVF was believed to have been responsible for bombing the Daniel O'Connell monument on O'Connell Street, Dublin. Little damage was done to the statue but the blast smashed windows in a half-mile radius
• On 28 December A car bomb exploded outside the Garda Síochána central detective bureau in Dublin. Gardaí believed that the UVF was responsible and said that the nearby telephone exchange headquarters may have been the target.^[4]
• On 26 March 1970 26 March: A bomb damaged an electricity substation in Tallaght, near Dublin. An anonymous letter claimed responsibility on behalf of the UVF.^[5]
• On 2 July 1970: A bomb damaged the main Dublin-Belfast railway line at Baldoyle in north Dublin. Gardaí believed it was the work of the UVF.^[6]
• On 17 January 1971: The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) exploded a bomb at the Daniel O'Connell monument at Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, Republic of Ireland damaging the monument.^[7]
• 8 February 1971 - The UVF bombed the Wolfe Tone statue in St Stephen's Green.^[8]

None of these early attacks resulted in deaths or severinjuries.

• Three civilians were killed & almost 200 injured in the 1972 and 1973 Dublin bombings
• 34 civilians were killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974, this was the single highest death toll from one day during The Troubles. Many people believe the British security forces colluded with the UVF to carry out the attacks.^[2][9][10]

The bombing

On the 29 November a bomb exploded in the toliets of Dublin airport killing one man and injuring ten other people. The UDA later claimed responsibility for the attack. Nobody was ever charged in connection with the bombing or murder of Aer Lingus worker John Hayes who was killed by the bomb. According to bomb experts the bomb was hidden in a toilet tissue dispenser and went off after John Hayes had just finished washing his hands & was about to leave the toliets area. A second device was found and safely detonated by the bomb squad and the building was then evacuated.^[11]

Aftermath

The Dublin Airport bomb was the last in a spat of Loyalist bombings in Dublin between 1972 - 1975 which killed almost 40 innocent civilians. The next person to be killed by Loyalists in Dublin happened almost 20 years later when the UVF shot dead Provisional IRA Volunteer Martin "Doco" Doherty as he attempted to stop a bomb attack on The Widow Scallans pub on Pearse Street, Dublin, where a Sinn Féin (SF) function was taking place. Another man was seriously wounded in the attack.^[12]

See also

• 1972 and 1973 Dublin bombings
• Dublin-Monaghan bombings

Sources

• CAIN project

References