Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles
11th January
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Saturday 11 January 1969
There was rioting in a number of areas of Northern Ireland particularly in Derry and Newry.
People’s Democracy March
Sunday 11 January 1970 Sinn Féin Split
Sinn Féin (SF) held an Ard Fheis (party conference) in Dublin at which the party split between those who were in favour of ending the policy of abstentionism – of not taking any seats won in the parliaments of Dublin, Belfast, and London – and those where against. A majority of delegates (although not the two-thirds required under the party’s rules to change policy) were in favour of ending the abstentionist policy.
Those opposed to the move, 257 supporters of the ‘Provisional Army Council’, walked out of the meeting thus leaving the organisation and later established offices in Kevin Street, Dublin. This new grouping became know as ‘Provisional Sinn Féin’ (PSF). The majority who remained behind continued to occupy the offices in Gardiner Place, Dublin, and were known as ‘Official Sinn Féin’ (OSF).
[This split mirrored the split that had occurred on 28 December 1969 when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) broke up into the Provisional IRA (PIRA) and Official IRA (OIRA).]
Friday 11 January 1974
Two civilians who worked for the British Army were killed by a bomb attached to their car as they left Ebrington Army base in the Waterside area of Derry.
Tuesday 11 January 1977
Political Developments; Hunger Strike
Wednesday 11 January 1978
The Fair Employment Agency (FEA) issued a report which indicated that the Catholic community experienced a higher level of unemployment than the Protestant community. In particular it pointed to the fact that Catholic men were two and a half times more likely to be unemployed than Protestant men.
Monday 11 January 1988
Hume Adams Meeting John Hume, then leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), met with Gerry Adams, then leader of Sinn Féin (SF).
[This was the first in a series of discussions between the two men; the last meeting took place on 30 August 1988. Some commentators consider these meetings to mark the beginning of the Irish ‘Peace Process’. The two leaders held another series of meetings beginning on 10 April 1993.]
Tuesday 11 January 1994
The Irish government announced that the broadcasting ban under section 31 of the Broadcasting Act would be lifted in the Republic of Ireland.
[This ban had prevented Sinn Féin (SF) from gaining access to the Irish media. The ban was ended on 19 January 1994.]
Baroness Denton was appointed to the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) to replace the Earl of Arran.
[Denton was the first woman to serve as minister in the NIO.]
Thursday 11 January 1996
The three members of the International Body on Arms Decommissioning met John Major, then British Prime Minister, in London.
Saturday 11 January 1997
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out a mortar-bomb attack on an unmanned Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in Fermanagh.
Robert Salters, then Grand Master of the Orange Order, and nine other senior Orangemen went to Harryville, Ballymena to lend support to Catholics whose Chapel was being picketed by Loyalists.
Martin McGartland, who had been an IRA informer, criticised the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) for rejecting his claim for compensation for injuries he sustained as he escaped an IRA execution squad in 1992.
Monday 11 January 1999
Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, stated that the key challenge during 1999 was to show that the Good Friday Agreement was working in all its aspects.
At the Special Criminal Court in Dublin four men went on trial accused of the capital murder of Jerry McCabe who was a Detective in the Garda Síochána (the Irish police). McCabe was shot dead during an aborted post office van robbery at Adare, County Limerick on 7 June 1996.
The accused were Pearse McCauley, Jeremiah Sheehy, Michael O’Neill, and Kevin Walsh, who were all members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
There were reports in the press that the number of Catholics applying to join the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) had reached a record high. The Belfast born novelist Brian Moore (77), who wrote 20 novels including ‘The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne’, died at his home in Malibu, California.
Thursday 11 January 2001
A father-of four was injured when a bomb was thrown through a rear window and partially exploded on the floor of his Larne home. His children, three girls and a boy aged between 11 and 21, were upstairs and asleep at the time.
There was a pipe-bomb attack on the constituency office of Alban Maginness, then SDLP Assembly member. The office is on the Antrim Road in Belfast. Four members of a scout group were meeting upstairs in the building near Duncairn Gardens, on an interface between the Protestant and Catholic communities, when the attack happened.
Two men had placed the device inside the front door of the building and it exploded at 9.00pm. .Maginness blamed the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) for the attack.
Friday 11 January 2002
The Red Hand Defenders (RHD), a cover name previously used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), issued a death threat against all Catholic teachers and all other staff working in Catholics schools in north Belfast. Catholic parents took their children to the Holy Cross Girls’ Primary School in Ardoyne, north Belfast.
There was no Loyalist protest outside the school and there was no serious violence. There were isolated minor scuffles. Following two days of serious violence north Belfast was mainly quiet.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) announced that permanent Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras would be installed on the Ardoyne Road, north Belfast. A temporary system was to be put in place while waiting for the permanent installation
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Remembering all innocent victims of the Troubles
Today is the anniversary of the death of the following people killed as a results of the conflict in Northern Ireland
“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die
– Thomas Campbell
To the innocent on the list – Your memory will live forever
– To the Paramilitaries –
There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, but nothing worth killing for.
4 People lost their lives on the 11th January between 1974 – 1993
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11 January 1974
Cecilia Byrne (53)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA)
Civilian employed by British Army (BA). Killed by bomb attached to car which exploded shortly after leaving Ebrington British Army (BA) base, Waterside, Derry.
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11 January 1974
John Dunne (46)
Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA)
Civilian employed by British Army (BA). Killed by bomb attached to car which exploded shortly after leaving Ebrington British Army (BA) base, Waterside, Derry
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11 January 1977
Edward Muller (18)
nfNI
Status: British Army (BA),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot by sniper while at British Army (BA) Vehicle Check Point (VCP), Oldpark Road, Belfast.
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11 January 1993
Matthew Boyd (60)
Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),
Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot while driving his car along Donaghmore Road, Dungannon, County Tyrone.
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Simfusion 