COUNTY ARMAGH, NORTHERN IRELAND – We normally associate the ‘Troubles’ in Ireland with the IRA: other groups were also behind attacks.
To say that relations between England and Ireland have been, shall we say fraught, is an understatement for sure. The former has long been the aggressor to the latter up to the point where it actually controlled the Emerald Isle for centuries.
As I have noted before, those under the yoke of the more powerful seldom like the situation. Uprisings are the norm, with or without outside assistance, and at times these take the form of what must be called terrorism.
I would imagine that when it comes to terrorism in Ireland the group that gets all the attention is the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which has been around in one form or another for over a century. And the IRA did indeed carry out a lot of attacks over the decades.
But it was not the only one.
On this day in 1976
On this day in 1976 terrorists from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) killed three members each from the Reavey and O’Dowd families in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Both families were Catholic: the UVF was a protestant group formed way back in 1912 to prevent Home Rule in Ireland. Although they failed in their original goal, they made up for it with hundreds of deaths in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
But I would just like to know some answers. I would like to know who planned it, where did it come from, who pin-pointed us? Why was our family targeted? Nobody could have got to us without local involvement. I would just like to know answers – how high did this go?
Declan and Barry O’Dowd’s brother Noel
In recent years the level of violence in Ireland seems to have gone down. Let us hope that the Troubles never return. Too many lives taken, too many families shattered. And all for what?
