Listen: Mary Lou McDonald says it was wrong to kill and maim members of An Garda Siochana during the Troubles
This is the extract from a recent radio interview in which Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald declared attacks on the gardai to be wrong.
During the Troubles, the IRA alone murdered at least six members of An Garda Siochana (and an Irish soldier too), according to the book Lost Lives.
Another compendium of Troubles deaths, the CAIN archive run by Ulster University, lists all the dead gardai – killed by all sources, not just the IRA – as follows:
– 3 April 1970: Fallon, Richard (42). Killed by: Saor Eire (SE). Shot during armed robbery at Bank of Ireland, Arran Quay, Dublin.
– 8 June 1972: Donegan, Samuel (61). Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA). Killed by booby trap bomb left by side of road, Legakelly, near Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh. Garda Donegan had strayed a few yards over the border into Northern Ireland.
– 16 October 1976: Clerkin, Michael (24). Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA). Killed by booby trap bomb in derelict house, Mountmellick, near Portlaoise, County Laois.
– 13 October 1980: Quaid, Seamus (42). Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA). Shot during exchange of gunfire, shortly after stopping vehicle while on Garda mobile patrol, Ballyconnick, near Cleariestown, County Wexford.
– 20 February 1982: Reynolds, Patrick (24). Killed by: Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Shot when called to house, Avonbeg Gardens, Tallaght, Dublin.
– 16 December 1983: Sheehan, Gary (23). Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA). Shot during gun battle between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Irish forces, at the release of kidnap victim Don Tidey, near Ballinamore, County Leitrim.
– 10 August 1984: Hand, Francis (26). Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA). Shot during armed robbery at post office, Drumcree, County Meath.
– 27 June 1985: Morrissey, Patrick (49). Killed by: Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Shot during armed robbery at post office, Ardee, County Louth.
– 07 June 1996: McCabe, Gerard (52). Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA). Undercover Garda Siochana (GS) member. Shot during armed robbery, while escorting post office van, Adare, County Limerick.
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