A policeman who was blown up by the IRA and lived to tell about it has died, aged 91.

Kenny Donaldson, director of Troubles campaign group SEFF, is among those mourning his loss; Jim Cannon had been a member of SEFF and pushed for better recognition of IRA victims in the Republic of Ireland, he said.

Mr Cannon has been interviewed by the News Letter a number of times, not least in 2016, around the time of the 40th anniversary of the fatal attack upon his garda squad.

A team of police officers in central Ireland had been lured to a farmhouse to the west of the village of Portarlington on October 16, 1976, by a report that an armed IRA team was using it to plan an attack.

placeholder image — Jim Cannon, back in the days of his service with the garda

In the early hours of the morning, Mr Cannon – then a sergeant – and four other policemen arrived at the property.

One, Michael Clerkin, entered through an open back window and opened the front door to let the team inside.

Soon afterwards there was an explosion; the IRA had rigged the house with a landmine, said Mr Cannon.

It killed garda Clerkin, 24, and wounded others and buried them in rubble.

Mr Cannon managed to free himself, but could not free two of his colleagues.

Their radio had been destroyed, so, while wounded, he made off across the fields in darkness to find someone.

"I had great difficulty in getting through a number of barbed wire fences which actually tore some of the flesh and clothing off me,” he recalled to the News Letter.

When he reached someone, he was “like a corpse, all white from the dust, and my uniform was in shreds”.

He continued to suffer from injuries to his legs throughout his life.

You can read his full account of the attack here: Buried alive – Garda remembers 'miracle' escape from fatal IRA bomb

A funeral notice says he died “peacefully surrounded by his loving family at the Midlands Regional Hospital Tullamore” on Monday.

His funeral is tomorrow in St Michael's Church, Portarlington, at noon.

He was a father-of-four, and a great-grandfather.

Mr Donaldson said: “Jim and his wife Mary have been much loved members of SEFF for many years.

"Jim touched the hearts of many of us through his unflinching sense of humanity, his quiet courage and steely determination.”

He added that Mr Cannon “has been involved with SEFF for approximately a decade and has been at the forefront of campaigning for appropriate acknowledgement for victims/survivors based in the Republic of Ireland”.

Mr Donaldson noted that in 2017 Mr Cannon and his former comrades were awarded the Scott Medal for courage shown by members of the gardai – “an honour which was 41 years in the waiting but was something which Jim and colleagues very much cherished”.

He said: “Jim was a man who had a thirst for life, he lived it and he lived it well – and always with his special wife Mary by his side.

“Jim was a loyal supporter of SEFF and what we stand for as an organisation, and he was so grateful for the support he and Mary received from our organisation and different team members.”

He added that he had been at a reception event for SEFF given by former President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, earlier this year – something which “mattered very much to Jim”.

Mr Cannon had been a Christian, and Mr Donaldson said: “Legend is often an overused term but for Jim it doesn’t come close to reflecting the special human being he was.

“If the world had more Jim Cannons, it would stand a real chance of reaching its potential.”