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Bomb in Glasnevin - 1970?

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  • 14-04-2009 9:50am
    #1
    _blank_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 41,926 ✭✭✭✭


    Can anyone confirm if there was a bomb in the O'Connell tower in Glasnevin Graveyard in 1970?


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    #2
    1968
    Registered Users Posts: 720 ✭✭✭1968


    A quick Irish Times archive search doesn't yield any results.

    Was it paramilitary related or an old WW1 bomb that never went off case?


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    #3
    _blank_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 41,926 ✭✭✭✭_blank_


    1968 wrote: »
    A quick Irish Times archive search doesn't yield any results.

    Was it paramilitary related or an old WW1 bomb that never went off case?

    Seemingly it was a Loyalist bomb

    Here is a piece from The Northside People, the tour guide from the tour of the Graveyard is quoted in this article

    http://www.dublinpeople.com/content/view/911/56/
    Another major aspect of the renovation project will be the restoration of the imposing O’Connell Tower that stands guard as you enter the cemetery.
    The tower houses the graves of Daniel O’Connell ‘The Liberator’ and his family. Constructed in 1860 it took 10 years to complete and is the tallest Round Tower in Ireland.
    “There used to be a staircase running right up to the top, but following a bomb attack by Loyalists in the ‘70s the stairway was destroyed, but now we hope to replace it,” says MacThomias.

    Now, on further investigation, this tour guide is the director of elections in Dublin for the Shinners.

    Is his info correct I wonder?

    Also, it seems I may have misheard him at the tour (I took the tour on Sunday, really would recommend everyone to go and take this tour if they can, Weds/Fri/Sun 2.30, a fiver, really worth it), I thought he said "in 1970", but he must have said "in the 1970s"


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    #4
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,216 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    17th January 1971.

    The Irish Times reported it on the 18th.


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    #5
    1968
    Registered Users Posts: 720 ✭✭✭1968


    spurious wrote: »
    17th January 1971.

    The Irish Times reported it on the 18th.

    Indo says it was the UVF.

    Only casualty was a pigeon.


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    #6
    humberklog
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 10,539 Mod ✭✭✭✭humberklog


    1968 wrote: »

    Only casualty was a pigeon.


    Gicknas are legitimate targets.
    A bomb is a little heavy handed though. I'd use a fruit box, a stick and a string myself but they were darker days.


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    #7
    Masada
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 11,001 ✭✭✭✭Masada


    Gickna's... ROFL!, and i thought that was just a name we came up with as kids., :D


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    #8
    GlasnevinRed
    Closed Accounts Posts: 381 ✭✭GlasnevinRed


    Asked the parents and a couple of the neighbours who've been living locally for years and none of them have any knowledge of it. Strange there was no further investigation.


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    #9
    Drummerboy2
    Registered Users Posts: 888 ✭✭✭Drummerboy2


    Have to say I never heard of that and I went to school across the road from the cemetery in the 1970s. However I know of a friend who was digging his garden very nearby and found some buried grenades.The dated back to the 1918 era. The Guards were called, who then called the army. The grenades were then taken to Tolka Park and blown up the the bomb squad in a controlled explosion.


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    #10
    John Mason
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 10,661 ✭✭✭✭John Mason


    spurious wrote: »
    17th January 1971.

    The Irish Times reported it on the 18th.

    do you have a link?

    i can find it ?

    i wonder was it just an unexploded WW1 bomb but it was decided to blame it on the Ulster people ?


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    #11
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,216 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    Unfortunately, The Irish Times don't have free access to their archive anymore, but I saw it by searching for Glasnevin on the 18th and 19th January 1971.

    I would take anything said by the Shinners with as much salt as the world could hold and then some, but there does seem to have been some sort of an incident that day. Whether it was anything connected to Loyalists, I've no idea.


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    #12
    InchicoreDude
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,443 ✭✭✭InchicoreDude


    Visited Glasnevin yesterday and the rour guide told us about this.

    I was shocked as I never heard anything about this before at all! This thread is actually the 2nd hit on google when I searched it!

    This is a source about the incident:

    http://comeheretome.com/2012/12/04/the-less-dramatic-bombing-of-oconnells-tomb-june-1952/


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