A series of co-ordinated bombings were carried out in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland, by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) on 17 May 1974. Three car bombs exploded in Dublin during the evening rush hour and a fourth exploded in Monaghan almost ninety minutes later. They killed 34 civilians, 32 in the original attack and 2 in the weeks following the Monaghan bombing. Almost 300 people were injured. Together, the bombings were the deadliest attack of the conflict known as the Troubles (although the deadliest single incident would be the Omagh bombing in 1998), and the deadliest attack in the Republic's history.Oireachtas Sub-Committee report on the Barron Report (2004), p.25 Most of the victims were young women, although the ages of the dead ranged from 4½ months up to 80 years.

The UVF, a loyalist paramilitary group from Northern Ireland, claimed responsibility for the bombings in 1993. It had launched a number of attacks in the Republic since 1969. The month before the bombings, the British government had lifted the UVF's status as a proscribed organisation. The bombings happened during the Ulster Workers' Council strike; a general strike called by loyalists and unionists in Northern Ireland who opposed the Sunningdale Agreement. Specifically, they opposed the sharing of political power with Irish nationalists, and the proposed role of the Republic in the governance of Northern Ireland. The Republic's government had helped bring about the Agreement. The strike brought down the Agreement and the Northern Ireland Assembly on 28 May.

No one has ever been charged with the bombings. A campaign by the victims' families led to an Irish government inquiry under Mr. Justice Henry Barron. His 2003 report criticised the Garda Síochána's investigation and said the investigators stopped their work prematurely.Barron Report (2003), pp.275–279 It also criticised the Fine Gael/Labour government of the time for its inaction and lack of interest in the bombings. The report said it was likely that British military personnel helped the UVF carry out the bombings, including members of the Glenanne gang. The Irish parliament's Joint Committee on Justice called the attacks an act of international terrorism involving British state forces. However, the inquiry was hindered by the British government's refusal to release key documents.Oireachtas Sub-Committee report on the Barron Report (2004), p.21 The victims' families and others continue to campaign for the British government to release these documents.

Explosions Dublin

At about 17:30 on Friday 17 May 1974, without warning, three car bombs exploded in Dublin city centre at Parnell Street, Talbot Street and South Leinster Street during rush hour. The streets all ran east-west from busy thoroughfares to railway stations.Barron Report (2003), p.242 There was a bus strike in Dublin at the time, which meant there were more people on the streets than usual.McKittrick, David. Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Random House, 2001. p.447 According to one of the Irish Army's top bomb disposal officers, Commandant Patrick Trears, the bombs were constructed so well that 100% of each bomb exploded upon detonation.Barron Report (2003), Appendices, p.22

27 people died in the explosions in Dublin. Many of the dead were young women originally from rural towns employed in the civil service. An entire family (parents and their two children) from central Dublin was killed. Two of the victims were foreign: Antonio Magliocco, an Italian man, and Simone Chetrit, a French Jewish woman whose family had survived the Holocaust.

First bomb The first of the three Dublin car bombs went off at about 17:28 on Parnell Street, near the intersection with Marlborough Street.Barron Report (2003), pp.1–4 It was in a parking bay outside the Welcome Inn pub and Barry's supermarket at 93 and 91 Parnell Street respectively, and near petrol pumps. Shop fronts were blown out, cars were destroyed, and people were thrown in all directions. A brown Mini that had been parked behind the bomb was hurled onto the pavement at a right angle. One survivor described "a big ball of flame coming straight towards us, like a great nuclear mushroom cloud whooshing up everything in its path".Kilfeather, Siobhan Marie (2005). Dublin: a Cultural History. Signal Books. p.219 The bomb car was a metallic green 1970 Hillman Avenger, registration number DIA 4063. It had been facing toward O'Connell Street, Dublin's main thoroughfare. This car, like the other two bomb cars, had its original registration plates. It had been hijacked in Belfast that morning.Barron Report (2003), pp.48–49

Ten people were killed in this explosion, including two infant girls and their parents, and a World War I veteran.The Irish Independent, 28 April 2004. Retrieved 28 October 2009 Many others, including a teenage petrol-pump attendant, were severely injured.

Second bomb The second of the Dublin car bombs went off at about 17:30 on Talbot Street, near the intersection with Lower Gardiner Street. Talbot Street was the main route from the city centre to Connolly station, one of Dublin's primary railway stations. It was parked at 18 Talbot Street, on the north side, opposite Guineys department store. The bomb car was a metallic blue mink Ford Escort, registration number 1385 WZ. It had been stolen that morning in the Docks area of Belfast. The blast damaged buildings and vehicles on both sides of the street. People suffered severe burns and were struck by shrapnel, flying glass and debris; some were hurled through the windows of shops.

Twelve people were killed outright, and another two died over the following days and weeks. Thirteen of the fourteen victims were women, including one who was nine months pregnant. One young woman who had been beside the bomb car was decapitated.Barron Report (2003): Transcript from Yorkshire Television's: The Hidden Hand: The Forgotten Massacre, p.5 Several others lost limbs and a man was impaled through the abdomen by an iron bar. Several bodies lay in the street for half an hour as ambulances struggled to get through traffic jams. At least four bodies were found on the pavement outside Guiney's. The bodies of the victims were covered by newspapers until they were removed from the scene.

Third bomb The third bomb went off at about 17:32 at the intersection of Nassau Street and South Leinster Street, near the railings of Trinity College and not far from Leinster House, the seat of the Oireachtas. Two women were killed outright. They had been very close to the epicentre of the blast. The bomb car was a blue Austin 1800 with registration number HOI 2487; like the Parnell Street car, it had been hijacked in Belfast that same morning from a taxi company. Dental students from Trinity College rushed to the scene to give first aid to the injured.

Monaghan Almost ninety minutes later, at about 18:58, a fourth car bomb (weighing ) exploded in the centre of Monaghan town, just south of the border with Northern Ireland. It had been parked outside Protestant-owned Greacen's pub on North Road. The car was a green 1966 Hillman Minx, registration number 6583 OZ; it had been stolen from a Portadown car park several hours before. As in Dublin, no warning had been given. This bomb killed five people outright, and another two died in the following weeks. There is evidence that the car bomb was parked five minutes before the explosion.Barron Report (2003), p.7 The bomb site, which was about from the Garda station, was preserved by a roster of eight Gardaí from 19:00 on 17 May until 14:30 on 19 May, at which time the technical examination of the area had been completed. Forensic analysis of the metal fragments taken from the site suggested that the bomb had been in a beer barrel or similar container. It has been suggested that the Monaghan bombing was a "supporting attack"; a diversion to draw security away from the border and thus help the Dublin bombers return to Northern Ireland.Barron Report (2003), p.75

Aftermath

After the blasts, bystanders rushed to help the wounded, and emergency response personnel were on the scene within minutes.Barron Report (2003), pp.5–6 Hospitals across Dublin were put on standby to receive casualties. However, rescue operations in Dublin were hampered by heavy traffic due to the bus strike. Rescuers, feeling that help was not coming fast enough, lifted the dead and wounded, wrapped them in coats and bundled them into cars to get them to the nearest hospital. Garda Síochána squad cars escorted surgeons through the crowded streets to attend to the wounded. Many people, on finding out what had happened, went straight away to offer blood.

Paddy Doyle of Finglas, who lost his daughter, son-in-law, and two infant granddaughters in the Parnell Street explosion, described the scene inside Dublin's city morgue as having been like a "slaughterhouse", with workers "putting arms and legs together to make up a body".Yorkshire Television, The Hidden Hand documentary.

At 18:00, after all of the dead and injured had been removed, Garda officers cordoned off the three bomb sites in Dublin. Fifteen minutes earlier, at 17:45, the orders were given to call out 'national cordons', to stop the bombers fleeing the state. Garda officers were sent to Connolly Station, Busáras, Dublin Airport, the B&I car ferry port, and the mail boat at Dún Laoghaire. At 18:28, the Dublin-Belfast train was stopped at Dundalk and searched by a team of 18 Gardaí led by an inspector. During the evening of 17 May, Gardaí from the Ballistics, Photography, Mappings, and Fingerprints section visited the three bomb sites in Dublin and examined the debris.

Some accounts give a total of 34 or 35 dead from the four bombings: 34 by including the unborn child of victim Colette Doherty, who was nine months pregnant; and 35 by including the later still-born child of Edward and Martha O'Neill. Edward was killed outright in Parnell Street. Martha O'Neill was not caught up in the attack, although two of their children were seriously injured in the bombing; one of them, a four-year-old boy, suffered severe facial injuries. The 22-month-old daughter of Colette Doherty survived the Talbot Street blast; she was found wandering about near the bomb site, relatively unharmed.Barron Report (2003), p.4 Six weeks after the bombings, the elderly mother of Thomas Campbell, who was killed in the Monaghan bombing, allegedly died of the shock she received at the death of her son.

Due to the bombings, the Irish Army withdrew its troops from UN peacekeeping missions for four years.

Reactions

British Prime Minister Harold Wilson described the attacks as "horrific", and said, "Once again it is the defenceless civilian population who suffer the consequences of these mindless and savage terrorist attacks".

Brian Faulkner, the Chief Executive of Northern Ireland and former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, sent to a message to Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave in Dublin, saying:

In Leinster House, about 300 metres from the site of the South Leinster Street blast, political leaders spoke about the bombings at the next session of Dáil Éireann. Statements by government ministers appeared to suggest that the bombings were an inevitable result of the IRA and Loyalist paramilitary campaigns in the UK. Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave, of Fine Gael, recorded his disgust and added:Dublin and Monaghan Bombings: Statement by Taoiseach 21 May 1974; accessed August 2010