‘IRA offered me revenge upon UVF killer

Edward O’Neill was telling his story as part of Thursday’s European day of remembrance for terror victims.

He was speaking online alongside others, in an event livestreamed by TUV man Jim Allister.

His life was scarred by one of the biggest atrocities of the Troubles – the co-ordinated loyalist bombings of Dublin and Monaghan.

In all, 34 people (or more, depending on how some people count the death-toll) were murdered as four UVF car bombs exploded – three in the Irish capital, and one in the border town of Monaghan, all on May 17, 1974.

No warning was given.

Among the victims in Dublin was Edward O’Neill Senior – a martial arts fan who was “very physically imposing”, but nonetheless a “very kind, considerate, and gentle man”.

His son said yesterday that he had been visiting a barber’s on the day of the explosion.

And Edward Jnr recalled the very moment of detonation; he had been walking by his father’s side with his brother Billy, and a button had come off his father’s coat.

It fell to the ground and rolled along on the pavement.

He remembers that very moment “almost like it was in slow motion”.

“Just at that second then I heard a crack, and saw a big bright flash coming towards us, and I saw my dad reach out and try to grab Billy,” he recalled.

“And then I saw him try to push me behind him.

“People tell me there’s no way I can possibly remember that – but I remember it clearly.

“The only thing I can think of is the look my father gave me – I still stick to this even now, 46 years later. My dad at that stage knew he was going to die, but he was trying to save me and Billy.”

The bomb had buried him alive under bits of building.

“I remember waking up in the dark. I’ve no recollection how long I was there for. I’d got blood in the back of my throat. And I saw a crack of light, felt someone grab my legs and pull me.”

He was in surgery for 19 hours, and had nightmares for a long time after the bombing. His mother miscarried due to the extreme stress, and lost a a baby daughter.

Edward Jnr went on to success nonetheless; he works in a national data centre in Dublin, has an undergraduate qualification in business and maths from Dublin City University, and is now studying for a statistics post-grad.

Alongside his sisters, he also founded a group named ‘Justice for the Forgotten’ to campaign for those responsible to be held to account.

He said the IRA approached him several times to become a member.

One IRA recruiter even offered to drive him to the house of a man behind the bombing in order to exact “revenge”, but he refused – causing the IRA man to curse and abuse him, saying his family would be ashamed.

Edward thought otherwise.

“My father and my sister would have been ashamed of me if I’d have taken him up on his offer,” he said.

There is some degree of controversy about the final number of victims, given the extensive nature of the injuries.

But Ulster University’s CAIN project lists them as follows:

Marie Butler; John Dargle; Patrick Fay; Antonio Magliocco; John O’Brien, Anne O’Brien (his wife), Jacqueline and Anne Marie O’Brien (their daughters); Edward O’Neill; Breda Turner; Josie Bradley; Anne Byrne; Simone Chetrit (a French tourist); Concepta Dempsey; Colette Doherty (who was nine months pregnant and whose child also died); Elizabeth Fitzgerald; Breda Grace; Mary McKenna; Anne Marren; Dorothy Morris; Marie Phelan; Siobhán Roice; Maureen Shields; John Walshe; Anne Massey; Christina O’Loughlin; Patrick Askin; Thomas Campbell; Thomas Croarkin; Archie Harper; Jack Travers; Peggy White; George Williamson.

‘IRA offered me revenge upon UVF killer – I turned them down’