Mairéad Farrell
Mairéad Farrell (Irish: Mairéad Ní Fhearghail), b. 3 March 1957, Belfast - d. 6 March 1988, Gibraltar) was a volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) who was killed by Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers during Operation Flavius, a British operation to prevent the bombing of a military band. [1] [2]
Early life
Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland to an middle class family with no link to militant Irish Republicanism other than her grandfather, who was interned during the Irish War of Independence, Farrell was educated at Rathmore Convent School in Belfast. She left school, aged 18, to work in an insurance broker's office. It was around this time that she met a Provisional IRA Volunteer named Bobby Storey, who persuaded her to join PIRA.[1][3]
First term of active service (1975-1976)
On 1 March 1976, the British Government revoked Special Category Status for prisoners convicted from this date under anti-terrorism legislation. In response to this the PIRA instigated a wave of bombings and shootings across Northern Ireland. This necessitated increased numbers of people, so younger members such as Farrell were asked to participate. On 5 April 1976 she and two others bombed the Conway Hotel, Dunmurry in what is believed was an unsuccessful attempt to kill members of the security forces who frequented the hotel.[4] She was by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) within an hour of planting the bombs.
At her trial she refused to recognise the court as it was an institution of the British State and was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for explosives offences to be served in Armagh Women's Prison. During her imprisonment she led her fellow prisoners in various struggles against the prison authorities.
Imprisonment (1976-1986)
When she arrived in Armagh Jail, Farrell refused to wear prison uniform in protest at the designation of paramilitary prisoners as criminals. She was the first woman to do so although the second person after Kieran Nugent, a prisoner in the H-Blocks of HMP Maze. Farrell instigated a dirty protest in February 1980. This meant that prisoners refused to slop-out and would smear excrement and menstrual material on the walls of their cells instead of risking the brutality of the guards.[5][6] On December 1 Farrell, along with Mary Doyle and Mairead Nugent, began a hunger strike in Armagh prison to coincide with the one already taking place in Long Kesh. It ended on 19 December, a day after the men's strike. The dirty protest ended in March 1981 as the prisoner's rights' campaign was focused on the hunger strike being undertaken by Bobby Sands, Officer Commanding (O/C) of PIRA prisoners in the H-Blocks. She was one of the H-Block/Armagh prisoners to stand for election in the Republic of Ireland in the 1981 General Election, standing in Cork North Central and polling 2,751 votes (6.05%).[7] After the death of Sands and nine of his fellow inmates, the prisoners were granted several of their five demands.
Second period of active service (1986-1988)
Upon her release from jail, Farrell enrolled at Queen's University, Belfast to do a course in Political Science & Economics, although she rapidly lost interest and dropped out to play a larger role in the armed campaign. It was in this capacity that the PIRA sent her, Sean Savage and Daniel McCann to the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar to plant a bomb in the town area. The target was the British military band which paraded weekly in connection with the changing of the guard in front of the Governor's residence.
The British Security Service were made aware of their plan and the Special Air Service (SAS) was deployed to prevent the bombing taking place.[citation needed] Farrell and her two partners were shot dead (see Operation Flavius).
Farrell was shot eight times, along with Savage and McCann, by the SAS whilst walking towards the frontier with Spain, at the Shell Oil filling station on Winston Churchill Avenue. Three witnesses to the shooting allege that Farrell and McCann were both shot while attempting to surrender and while lying wounded on the ground.[8]
No radio or other detonating device were found on the bodies, nor was there a bomb in the car in Gibraltar which had been identified as belonging to the bombing team, although keys to a car found in Farrell's handbag led to the discovery in Spain of five packages of Semtex explosive (totalling 84 kg) to which were attached four detonators and around which were packed 200 rounds of ammunition as shrapnel. There were two timers marked 10 hrs 45 mins and 11 hrs 15 mins respectively. However, they were not yet primed or connected.
According to the details of the briefing given to the soldiers quoted in the ECHR report Use of a remote-control device was considered to be far more likely since it was safer from the point of view of the terrorist who could get away from the bomb before it exploded and was more controllable than a timer which once activated was virtually impossible to stop.
At the inquest soldiers "A", "B", "C" and "D" stated that they were told at the briefing that the device would be radio-controlled. "Soldier C" said that "E" stressed to them that it would be a "button job".
The Gibraltar Inquest
At the inquest into the deaths held in Gibraltar the jury returned a verdict of lawful killing by a 9-2 majority.[9]
The European Court of Human Rights reviewed the shootings in 1995. By a 10-9 majority it ruled that the 'Gibraltar Three' were unlawfully killed in breach of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights criticising the authorities for lack of appropriate care in the control and organisation of the arrest operation.[10]
It also ruled that the three had been engaged in an act of terrorism, and consequently dismissed unanimously the applicants’ claims for damages, for costs and expenses incurred in the Gibraltar Inquest and the remainder of the claims for just satisfaction.[10]
Related events
In the aftermath of the shooting on Gibraltar violence escalated in the Belfast area and resulted in at least six further deaths. The three bodies were returned to Belfast on March 14. That evening a PIRA sniper, Kevin McCracken, was shot dead in Norglen Crescent, Turf Lodge, Belfast while preparing to attack British soldiers.[11][12] Those attending the return of the bodies said that the security services were harassing them[13] and that he was attacking the security services to deflect their attention. According to witnesses, McCracken was beaten while lying wounded by members of the security services.[14]
At the funeral of the 'Gibraltar Three', three mourners were killed in a gun and grenade attack by Loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone in what became known as the "Milltown Massacre".
At the funeral of PIRA member Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh (English: Kevin Brady), one of the three men killed three days earlier by Michael Stone, two British Army corporals, Derek Wood and David Howes, drove into the funeral cortege, apparently by accident but mourners evidently feared an attack similar to Stone's was taking place. Scenes relayed on live television[citation needed] showed the two corporals being cornered by black taxis and dragged from their car before being taken away by the PIRA to be beaten, stripped, and then shot (see Corporals killings).[15]
In a revenge attack on 10 September 1990, the PIRA attempted to kill Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Terry at his Staffordshire home. Sir Peter had been a prime target since his days as Governor of Gibraltar, where he signed the documents allowing the SAS to pursue IRA members. The attack took place at 9pm at the Main Road house. The gunman opened fire through a window hitting Sir Peter at least 9 times and injuring his wife, Lady Betty, near one of her eyes. The couple's daughter, Elizabeth, was found to be suffering from shock. Peter Terry's face had to be rebuilt as the shots shattered his face and 2 high-velocity bullets lodged a fraction of an inch from his brain.[16]
Media comment
The New York Times (June 13 1989) stated: "Mairead Farrell might be dismissed as some wild-eyed fanatic except that part of her life has been preserved in several home movies and a television interview taped shortly before her death. What emerges is a portrait of a soft-spoken, attractive woman determined to end what she perceived as the injustices surrounding her everyday life. To the people of Falls Road she was a patriot. To the British she was a terrorist. To her family she was a victim of Irish history."[17]
Events leading up to the Gibraltar killings are depicted in a reconstruction made for a British television documentary (See Death on the Rock). Questions abound. Was the I.R.A. trio, carefully followed for days, in fact lured into Gibraltar? Why did the police fail to photograph the bodies or gather forensic evidence? Why was the press - Britain's tabloids were jubilant - told lies about a huge car bomb being defused and about the three suspects having died in a gunfight? This documentary's understated observation: "There was a strong air of Government cover-up and disinformation." [17]
Trivia
She is one of the subjects of the Irish rebel song Gibraltar Three.
References
- ^ a b Pg 300, Tírghrá, National Commemoration Centre, 2002. PB) ISBN 0-9542946-0-2
- ^ Gibraltar Chronicle March 7 1988 "three dead as police foil Gib IRA attack"
- ^ Biog of Mairead
- ^ Maireed Farrell - Irish Rebel
- ^ "A very serious situation arose in Armagh Prison on 7 February 1980 . There were serious allegations from the women that they were beaten by male officers. They then escalated their 'no work' protest to follow the example of the men in the H Blocks, Long Kesh, in the 'No wash' 'No slop-out' protest. They were then locked up 23 hours a day in their cells. The soiled cells were left dirty for the first six months." Hard Times, Armagh Gaol 1971-1986, Raymond Murray, Mercier Press, Dublin, 1998, ISBN 185635 223 4
- ^ Aretxaga, Begoña (2006). States of Terror. University of Nevada, Reno. pp. pp. 60-61. ISBN 978-1877802577.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ ElectionsIreland.org-Table showing 1st preference results for 1981 election
- ^ [1], paragraphs 70-72.
- ^ BBC News Story about the inquest to the killings
- ^ a b Site about Gibraltar with details of the ECHR ruling
- ^ CAIN:Sutton Index of Deaths
- ^ Adams G (2003). Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland ISBN 0863223303
- ^ An article In Republican News about the funerals
- ^ Belfast Murals
- ^ "Judges free man jailed over IRA funeral murders" The Daily Telegraph
- ^ IRA gun attack on ex Governor
- ^ a b O'Connor, John (1989-06-13). "Television Review: An IRA Member from Several Angles". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help)
See also
- Death on the Rock; a documentary about the shootings.
Bibliography and further reading
- Death on the Rock - documentary about the shootings.
- Murder on the Rock - book about the shootings.
- Relatives for Justice Site
- Summary and full judgement by the ECHR
- Adams, G, Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland, Brandon Books, 2003. ISBN 0863223303
- Information on the 1980 hunger strike in Armagh prison
- New York Times (June 13, 1989) review of the Frontline documentary, Death of a Terrorist