Internment had been proposed by Unionist politicians as the solution to the security situation in Northern Ireland but was to lead to a very high level of violence over the next few years and to increased support for the IRA. You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number, I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from Evening Standard. He was curate of St Johns in Falls Road and he will be buried in his home town of Portaferry in County Down, Northern Ireland.Date: 11/08/1971, Father Hugh Mullan, 40, of St Johns Presbytery, Falls Road, the priest who was shot and killed when administering the last rites to a casualty in riots near the Ballymurphy estate earlier today.Date: 10/08/1971, An old woman, a rosary dangling from her neck, clasps her hands on finding a British Army sharpshooter on her door step in Belfasts market area as troops flushed out snipers barricaded in bakery in Northern Ireland capital on August 11, 1971. Knowing what was to follow, the venue was apposite. Joe Cahill (centre) school gym Ballymurphy northern ireland speaking talking, chief of the Provisionals in Belfast, who during todays Press conference refuted claims made by the army a few hours earlier that the IRA were virtually beaten. Part of PIRA/OIRA feud. Even when he fell in love - and that was frequently - he was never submerged by disappointment. The man wasn't moving. The court heard that Mr McCann sustained three bullet wounds, two of which may have been caused by one round. An IRA member on a street patrol in Belfast during the troubles. Some members of the OIRA broke away to form the Official Republican Movement (ORM). 19 October - A civilian died two weeks after being shot by the OIRA along Cabra Road, Dublin. Official IRA chief-of-staff Cathal Goulding delivered the graveside oration. On any view of the facts, the level of force used was unreasonable, he said. The SDLP withdrew from Stormont in protest. It appears in two plaques in Belfast in his memory. 30 December - OIRA members raided the offices of the Housing Executive in Derry and destroyed files in a bonfire on the Creggan estate. The security forces arrested 342 people suspected of supporting paramilitaries. This poster, based on the picture, soon appeared. (Victor Patterson). Caldwell has been named as the off-duty police officer injured in a Feb. 22, 2023 shooting at a sports complex in the . FebruaryMarch - The OIRA carried out over a dozen retaliatory attacks against British security forces after the British Army shot dead 12-year-old Kevin Heatley near his home in Derrybeg, Newry, County Down on 28 February. 19 August: The OIRA claimed responsibility for shooting two youths in a punishment shooting in the Bogside area of Derry. OIRA gunmen first tried to kill a man in the Albert Street area of the Lower Falls. Belfast-born former Sinn Fein general secretary Rita O'Hare who was jailed for three years in the Republic of Ireland for involvement in an IRA arms smuggling bid dies aged 80. Terence Davison said he shook hands with Mr McCartney after an "amicable discussion" about the comment. 16 October - Two OIRA Volunteers were shot dead by the British Army a VCP in, 5 December - The OIRA carried out several mortar attacks using newly developed launchers on British Army bases in Northern Ireland. 11 November - The PIRA shot dead OIRA Volunteer John Brown (25) at his home in Cooke Place, Belfast. As he ran away from a foot patrol after being fingered by a Special Branch officer, pursuing Paratroopers opened fire. Above: Painting by an unknown artist of the second Battle of Vinegar Hill, Castlebrook, near Sydney, 1804. Small children drawing pro Irish Republican Army notes with chalk on the pavement, such as Up the IRA, in Leeson Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland on August 17, 1971. 4 September - OIRA volunteers fired several shots at Garda during a robbery on a dairy at Tramore Road, Cork before surrendering. Paddy Kennedy (l), a Republican MP at Stormont, and John Kelly during a Press conference held in a school gymnasium in Belfasts Ballymurphy district and is attended by several leading members of the Republican movement. It first appeared in the Daily Mirror and later received much wider, transatlantic, circulation in a photo-spread in Life Magazine (it did not, however, as has been claimed, feature on the cover). First, the local legend that flourished after he was gunned down on the streets of Belfast grew out of the reputation he achieved in life. Rescuers search the wreckage of the Red Lion Bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where a terrorist bomb, killed two and injured over thirty persons on November 2, 1971. Note that its a different photograph, taken from a slightly different angle. Kevin Myers writes of his good looks, charisma, innate wisdom, gravitas and curiously ironic and knowing sense of humour. 12 November - The OIRA shot dead civilian and Chairman of the Falls Road Taxi Association Michael Duggan (32) for its links to the PIRA in Hawthorne, Belfast. Davison was a Belfast IRA commander in 2005 when he allegedly ordered IRA comrades to attack a man, Robert McCartney, at a pub near the Markets following an exchange of insults. 8 July British soldiers shoot dead two Catholic civilians in Free Derry. James Saunders (22), a member of the IRA, is shot dead by the British Army during a gun battle near the Oldpark Road, Belfast. Bernadette Devlin, 24-year-old member of Parliament for Mid-Ulster, who has announced that she is soon to have a baby, addresses a political protest meeting in Londons Trafalgar Square by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement, July 11, 1971. The New IRA . A factory building on fire in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1971. VideoRussian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. The man who was murdered at his home near Belfast city centre is reported to have been involved in a pub fight 10 years ago that would eventually lead to one of Northern Ireland's most high profile killings. Led by a lone piper and McCanns Irish wolfhound, over 200 women carried wreaths and over 2,000 men marched behind. Denis Ormerod, the first Catholic commander of the UDR, comments on the religious make-up of the reservists and wider perceptions of the force. Then there is the manner of his killing. 14 April - The UVF shot dead OIRA Volunteer Robert Millen on the Ormeau Road, Belfast. A British soldier stands guard as bystanders wait to get a view of operations by the army bomb disposal squad in Northern Ireland on Nov. 11, 1971 after an explosive device had been planted near the city centre. Sinn Fin sources alleged the OIRA were threatening to shoot a "public and prominent member" of the party. He was reportedly part of a Loyalist mob attempting to invade a Catholic area. 8 December - There was a split in the Official Republican Movement when a large group led by, 20 February 1975 - A feud between the OIRA and the newly formed. They are also the first ex-servicemen to face charges relating to the death of an active member of the IRA. On the first day, the court also heard from Sean Bannon, who was on his way to a bar in the area when he witnessed the incident unfold on Joy Street, and Joseph Donaldson, who was 10 at the time of the shooting and arrived on the scene in the immediate aftermath. 15 April - OIRA Belfast Commander Joe McCann was shot dead in the Markets area of Belfast. Yesterday, two veterans now in their 70s and known as Soldiers A and C, became the first ex-servicemen to stand trial following controversial 'legacy' investigations into Troubles shootings. Porters. 14 September - A OIRA sniper shot dead a British soldier in the Creggan area of Derry. Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims. [Punishment beatings, and punishment shootings (were people were shot in the knee or elsewhere on the body with intent to wound but not kill) were to become a continuous feature of the conflict in Northern Ireland and were used by both Republican and Loyalist. 23 September 1971 - Official IRA Volunteers Curry Rose (18) and Gerard O'Hare (17) were both killed in a premature bomb explosion while preparing a bomb in a house in Merrion Street, along the. Northern Ireland veterans commissioner Danny Kinahan also attended. Flanked by two security officers, the veterans sat quietly, with Soldier A admitting that he was 'lip-reading' the proceedings owing to poor hearing. May 22, 1971- Believed to have been part of the murders or two soldiers. 6 July - An OIRA Volunteer Martin O'Leary died in a premature bomb explosion at a training camp at the Mogul Mines in the. Devlin rests waiting for her turn to address the students. Glen Keogh For The Daily Mail HI The OIRA on 22 July claimed the attack and another two days previously were retaliation for the harassment of locals by the. 15 April - A British soldier was shot dead in an OIRA sniper attack in Divis Street, Lower Falls, Belfast. The crucial reason for McCanns posthumous local fame is a photograph (in fact two photographs shot in rapid succession by Ciaran Donnelly). 2 June - Paul Tinnelly (34) a former OIRA Volunteer and founder of the short-lived paramilitary group "Tinnelly's Brigade" was shot dead by the OIRA in Rostrevor, Down. They said soldier B opened fire first, shooting two rounds above Mr McCann by way of a warning. giving them a chance to be heard, remembered and to British Army Sergeant Michael Willetts is killed. Allegedly, the attacks were spurred by a PIRA quadruple punishment shooting on a former Workers' Party member accused of anti-social behaviour. Sinn Fin claimed the attack was carried out by the Official IRA. During the course of the trial, the court heard excerpts of police interviews with Terence Davison, where he described the row between his nephew Gerard and Mr McCartney's friend Brendan Devine as "a storm in a teacup". Several of the devices either missed their target or failed to explode. To renew a subscription please login first, One of Ciaran Donnellys two iconic photographs of Joe McCann, taken on 10 August 1971 at Ingliss Eliza Street bakery in Belfasts Markets area, an Official IRA stronghold. On 10 August a group of six Official IRA volunteers, led by McCann, took over Inglis's Eliza Street bakery in the Official stronghold of the Markets, and in a fierce firefight pinned down a large contingent of British soldiers. Protestant leader Reverend Ian Paisley, behind crown bearer, leads the Protestant Easter March through Armagh, Northern Ireland, while British troops stand guard on Easter Saturday, April 10, 1971. I saw a soldier with a black cap turn him on his back. 10 September - A group of OIRA Volunteers badly beat a civilian man to death in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast. He said he drove in the direction of the nearby Short Strand area and Mr McCann then asked to be dropped off. John Mulqueen is a postgraduate history student at Trinity College, Dublin; Jim Smyth is Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. 21 June - The OIRA shot dead a Protestant civilian David Walker (16) near the entrance of the Falls Road, Belfast. According to the evidence provided at the time by the Special Branch officer who tried to arrest McCann, the republican was 'at the very top of the three-star list of people wanted for arrest'. The first witness to give evidence to the trial was former delivery driver Alexander Worland, who had given Mr McCann a lift in his van earlier that day. 8 March 1971 Members of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) engaged in a gun battle with members of the Provisional IRA (PIRA). The Reverend Ian Paisley during a press conference in Stormont, Northern Ireland. Advertisement They are also the first ex-servicemen. Time magazine thought so too, and speculated that the shooting and the consequent street violence had scuppered all hope of Catholics accommodating themselves to the new direct rule, Stormont-less, regime. McCann, who joined the Republican movement as a teenager in 1963, was known both for his physical bravado and for his quick intelligence. 25 May The PIRA throw a bomb into the Springfield Road British Army/RUC base in Belfast. Club wielding republican extremists had forcefully halted traffic during the funerals of catholic riot victims. Detectives will look at the Robert McCartney murder to see if there was any kind of vendetta, but that happened more than 10 years ago, so I'm told they will also look at his more recent activities and whether he had run ins with criminal gangs or possibly drug dealers. In the early hours of 9 August 1971, British troops swept through nationalist areas of the North rounding up republican suspects for internment without trial, and touching off some of the worst violence of the Troubles. I have therefore decided to exercise where necessary the powers of detention and internment vested in me as Minister of Home Affairs.. The 24-year-old, who was known as the 'Officer Commanding of the 1st Battalion of the Official IRA' and a member of the IRA Army Council, was at the time of his death suspected of the murder of two soldiers, including Corporal Robert Bankier, one of the first killed during the Troubles. The fire raged for three hours before it was brought under control.Date: 10/02/1971, Schoolboys cheer adn chant from a pile of burnt-out busses and lorries in the aftermath of the riots.Date: 09/02/1971, Vehicles burn in the New Lodge Road area of Belfast when a crowd of about 200 set fire to cars, vans and lorries after an army scout car ran over and killed a five-year-old girl.Date: 08/02/1971, A youth tarred and feathered tied to a lamp post in the Falls Road area of Belfast. 9 June - The UDA shot dead Joseph McKee (33) an OIRA Volunteer inside a shop in Castle Street, Belfast. Phone (415) 767-5130. The Markets area 1979 Belfast has nearly 100 separation walls. Captain David Stewardson, 29,who was a Royal Army Ordnance Corps Disposal expert died in a Belfast hospital of bomb blast wounds after a booby trap bomb he was defusing exploded.Date: 09/09/1971. The Markets Area. 16 April - A British soldier was shot dead in an OIRA sniper attack in Bishops Street, Derry. And since the 1790s large, stage-managed funerals-as-political-demonstrations have been a staple of republican mobilisation. 10 April - Two British soldiers were killed in an OIRA bomb attack in Rosemount, Derry. Scappaticci spoke up for Braniff at a private meeting of republicans in Belfast. 9 November - The PIRA shot dead OIRA Volunteer along the New Lodge, Belfast. Kieran Glennon, author of From Pogrom to Civil War - Tom Glennon and the Belfast IRA, describes how this material charts the growth, then the disintegration of the 3 rd Northern Division.. He was an absolute hero to his men, mostly neighborhood irregulars, and as he directed them with grunts and waves of the American semi-automatic carbine he carried in one hand he looked as though all Ireland were at stake on Eliza Street. For twelve hours before being surrounded and broken up, Joe and his men had effective control of the whole downtown market area in east [sic] Belfast.. In legal exchanges over disclosure issues prior to the Crowns opening statement, a lawyer representing soldier A insisted the force used was reasonable. 27 July - The OIRA shot dead a civilian in his house in, 5 October - The OIRA shot dead former OIRA Volunteer, and the then-current leader of the INLA & IRSP. Thirty-seven years of conflict and violence between and within communities have left a deep legacy in Belfast. February 22, 1972 - Took part in the bombing of Parachute Regiment headquarters in Hampshire that killed seven civilians. 4 March - The OIRA killed a former UDR soldier in Derry. In response the PIRA moved large numbers of its members into the area, while 30-40 members of the Workers Party/OIRA barricaded themselves inside the social club where the fighting began, for days afterwards. The intended target was an OIRA volunteer who was a relative of the civilian killed. 5 June - the Official IRA shot dead INLA volunteer Brendan McNamee on Stewartstown Road, Belfast; final action of the INLA/OIRA feud. In the following days, an estimated 7000 people fled their homes. We have a passion for running well-operated and sparkling clean stores, delighting our customers and inspiring smiles. These portrait photographs of Russia's ruling Romanovs were taken in 1903 at the Winter Palace in majestic. Read our, {{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}}. The soldiers provided statements to the Royal Military Police following the shooting and were not subject to any legal or disciplinary action at that point. Email. 6 February: Robert Curtis is shot dead by the IRA. Carmen,/Cart Drivers Stables, Whitesmiths. . BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE Michael McClarnon,22, wearing the coat he was wearing when he was shot in Belfasts Ardoyne district.Date: 29/10/1971, BELFAST IRA CLASHES Britishtroops take up positions in the doorways of shops near Eliza street, in the markets area of Belfast, a short distance from the city centre of Northern Irelands capital. Unusually the case is being heard by a judge with no jury. Store Hours. ', When Soldier A went to check on McCann, he is said to have told him as he lay dying: 'You have got me cold. 29 October 1975 - The Provisional IRA (PIRA) shot and killed OIRA Volunteer Robert Elliman (27), in McKenna's Bar in the Markets area of Belfast. At first, Sinn Fin rejected claims that IRA members were present. +353-1-293 3568. The Market, Belfast MARKET STREET Cromac The Market District Belfast Dalton's Shop The Market The Ray Sisters Jobs of the Early Market People Cattle Drovers.. Cow Wallopers, Sheep Drovers, Black Bag Dealers Waste Paper Gathering, Fowl Dealers. BELFAST IRA CLASHES - British troops take up positions in the doorways of shops near Eliza street, in the markets area of Belfast, a short distance from the city centre of Northern Irelands capital. 7 April - British Soldiers in concealed positions opened fire on an OIRA unit after an attack on a British Army patrol in Ogle Street, Armagh, killing OIRA Volunteer James McGerrigan (17) and wounding another. Forty nine years later, two former paratroopers, known as soldiers A and C, have gone on trial for his murder at Belfast Crown Court. He was the fourth British soldier to die on active service and the seventh overall since the conflict began. Veteran republican Rita O'Hare has died, it was announced today. Riots erupt. He was curate of St Johns in Falls Road and he will be buried in his home town of Portaferry in County Down, Northern Ireland, Mourners file past the coffin of Father Hugh Mullan, at Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church on the Ballymurphy estate after Requiem Mass. But there had been (and would be) numerous republicans shot by the security forces in controversial circumstances. Sinn Fin announced that it had suspended seven members of the party who were in the pub on the night of the murder, and the IRA even offered to shoot those responsible. The chain of events that led to Mr McCartney's death began inside Magennis's bar when his friend was involved in a row with Mr Davison that then spilled outside. By the early 1990s, Tony was arrested alongside many other Provisional IRA members on charges of terrorism and bomb-making and received a life sentence in the infamous H Block prison. April 15, 1972 - He is shot dead in the Markets area of Belfast. 2 July - The OIRA bombed the British Ministry of Social Security in South Mall, Cork, claiming the premises was used to recruit former British soldiers for the British Army. They are John McCraig 17 (L) his brother Joseph, 18 (R) and Dougald McCaughy,23.Date: 11/03/1971, BELFAST IRA CLASHES British troops straddle a main road near the Catholic Unity flats in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during a lull in the recent current wave of disorders which had flared up in a show of strength by a breakaway group of the Irish Republican Army earlier in the week. . which aims to capture the individual histories of Irish The vehicle had been attacked with petrol bombs. He said: 'I saw a body on the corner of Joy Street. September Loyalist groups formed the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Wreckage left by a terrorist bombing at the Hunting Lodge Inn in Andersontown, Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1971. At conservative gathering, Trump is still the favourite. 10 Downing Street, Bernadette Devlin, Member of Parliament for Mid-Ulster, went to the London School of Economics, on Oct. 20, 1971, to demand that students take over some colleges and universities in Britain to show solidarity against the British Governments handling of the Northern Ireland situation. 4 October - A British soldier was killed in an OIRA bomb attack on an Army base in Cuppar Street, Belfast. 18 June - OIRA members, after forcing their way into Ross' Mill on Odessa Street, Belfast and staging a protest over working conditions, planted a bomb under the manager's car. 4 June - The INLA shot dead OIRA volunteer James Flynn (37) on North Strand Road, Dublin. Peter told me he never felt ill at ease patrolling the area even though he was Protestant.. Brian Faulkner, Northern Ireland Prime Minister and the man faced with the task of ending the eruption of terrorism, street fighting and bloodshed in the Province. 25 July - The OIRA shot dead UDA member James Kenna at the junction of Roden Street & Clifford Street in Belfast. He is one of three who received such treatment in the past 24 hours.Date: 10/01/1971, Flames leap into the air from a double decker bus when rioters used it as a blazing barricade in the Roman Catholic Falls Road area of Belfast. [There were more arrests in the following days and months. Margaret Thatcher and then Sir John Major set up a secret back channel with the IRA to start peace talks. Holland, Jack; McDonald, Henry (1994). [According to Lost Lives Reid was the person who fired the shot which killed Robert Curtis, the first British soldier to be killed in the Troubles, on 6 February 1971. In 1971, the Troubles in Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland were in full cry. 9 February 1971 Five men, two of them British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) engineers, the others construction workers, were killed near a BBC transmitter on Brougher Mountain, County Tyrone in a land mine attack carried out by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The fatal shot hit him at the bottom of his back. 15 December - A off-duty UDR soldier was shot dead as he left his workplace near Moy Road, Armagh. With the fear of being burnt out, Protestant householders move some of their belongings from a street in the Ardoyne area of Belfast, Northern Ireland on August 10, 1971. At right, crouched beneath the Irish Republican tricolor [sic], a professional IRA terrorist who goes by the name of Joe awaits a counterattack by British infantry during the battle of Eliza Street. It is hoped Video, Russian minister laughed at for Ukraine war claims, excerpts of police interviews with Terence Davison, US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, Alex Murdaugh's legal troubles are far from over, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Sonic boom heard as RAF Typhoon jets escort plane, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, Nelson's 97th-minute stunner gives Arsenal victory, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, Walkie Talkie architect Rafael Violy dies aged 78. The OIRA strenuously denied the men were armed or had attacked the patrol. During the exchange a photographer captured the profile of McCann in silhouette, hunkered down, an M1 carbine resting on his knee, a Starry Plough flag fluttering above him and a truck-barricade blazing before him. "New terror gang bombs Belfast bar and officials blow up mill chief's car, Timeline of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions, Timeline of Irish National Liberation Army actions, Timeline of Continuity Irish Republican Army actions, Timeline of Real Irish Republican Army actions, Timeline of the Northern Ireland Troubles, Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actions, Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGu78sfInPA, "Rightist Ulster Senator Slain by Gunmen in Home", Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, Ceasefires of the Provisional IRA, UVF, UDA and RHC, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Timeline_of_Official_Irish_Republican_Army_actions&oldid=1135430406, Military actions and engagements during the Troubles (Northern Ireland), Timelines of military conflicts since 1945, Short description with empty Wikidata description, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 3-5 July: Twelve Volunteers from the Provisional IRA & 90 Volunteers from the Official IRA's Belfast Brigade battled the British Army during the, 8 March - After a gun battle between the Officials & Provisionals, the OIRA Volunteers shot dead the Provisional IRA's Belfast D Company commander Charlie Hughes (a cousin of. Terence Davison told police: "People had been hurt on both sides. 10 October - The OIRA shot dead a civilian during an armed robbery on his workplace in Whiterock, Belfast. Official IRA man Joe McCann died after being shot in the Markets area of Belfast in April, 1972. Please consider making a donation to our site. British troops sift through the ruins of a supermarket after a bomb exploded in Cavehill Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1971. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? On the opening day of the non-jury trial, a prosecution lawyer told judge Mr Justice OHara the veterans had not been legally justified in opening fire on Mr McCann as he ran away from them. A British soldier was killed when a shell detonated while he was examining one of the mortars in Kitchen Hill in. OIRA members then opened fire in a bookmakers in the Markets area of Belfast, wounding the intended target and a 78-year-old man who tried to intervene. The case was reinvestigated by the polices now defunct historical inquiries team in 2010, at which point the veterans provided voluntary statements and were then interviewed under caution. McCann sustained three bullet wounds but was found to be unarmed. [It was believed that a British Army (BA) mobile patrol, which had been visiting the site, was the intended target.]. He is the first British soldier to die in the Troubles. IRA commander had killed 15 British soldiers by the time he was shot dead, court told. The Crown lawyer said that at that point, soldiers A and C, and another now deceased paratrooper, soldier B, opened fire. (AP Photo/Peter Kemp). His Press conference ended abruptly when guards posted on nearby street corners warned of approaching British Army patrols.Date: 13/08/1971. The British prime minister, Edward Heath, wanted to know why arrests had not been made, while the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, William Whitelaw, conceded that killing McCann had made a martyr of him. - Anaheim, California - Find Great Printing, Shipping, and Sign Businesses for Sale on BusinessBroker.net In this case, the two defendants had begun processes to challenge the decision, but abandoned the procedure. Official IRA member Joe McCann, 24, died after being shot in the Markets area of Belfast in . After his death, the Official IRA claimed that he was responsible for the deaths of 15 British soldiers, the court heard. "There were no winners and I was just hoping they (Mr McCartney and Mr Devine) would leave the scene and we (Terence and Gerard Davison) could have gone straight to the hospital and everybody wakes up the following morning.". Protestants in the Ardoyne area of Belfast, which is predominantly Catholic, fled after setting fire to their own homes to make sure they were not taken over by Catholics. The court heard that police held a large amount of information on McCann at the time of his death. The . This is a timeline of actions by the Official Irish Republican Army (Official IRA or OIRA), an Irish republican & Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group. 30 December - The OIRA burnt down the Rostrevor, County Down, home of Ivan Neil, Speaker of the, 30 January - It is claimed by eyewitnesses during. Mother Teresa making friends with Belfast children, where she is to start a mission in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Nov. 6, 1971. Mr McCann evaded capture and ran away down Joy Street. Two former paratroopers deny murdering a man in Northern Ireland almost 50 years ago, a court has heard. British soldiers fired rubber bullets at the funeral cortege; that same night the OIRA shot a British soldier in retaliation. Part of PIRA/OIRA feud. He went to the scene and saw Mr McCann lying fatally wounded on the street. In their accounts of the events, both soldiers insisted warnings were issued to Mr McCann such as halt and stop, but that he continued to run away.