Clontibret invasion

Last updated

Clontibret invasion
Part of The Troubles
Date7 August 1986
Location
Clontibret, County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland
Result
Belligerents
Ulster loyalists An Garda Síochána
Strength
c. 150–500 loyalists. Some armed with cudgels. 5 Gardaí. Some armed with guns.
Casualties and losses
1 loyalist arrested 2 Gardaí injured and hospitalised

The Clontibret invasion was an incursion by Ulster loyalists into the small Monaghan village of Clontibret, in the Republic of Ireland, on 7 August 1986. After crossing the border the loyalists proceeded to vandalise many buildings in the village and attacked two police officers before being dispersed by the Garda Síochána. The incident occurred in the context of unionist opposition to the recently signed Anglo-Irish Agreement.

Contents

Background

The invasion can be considered part of the campaign by unionists to undo the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The Agreement, signed by the British and Irish governments in November 1985, gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government. This provision caused outrage amongst the Unionist community of Northern Ireland. Many felt it was a 'stepping stone' towards a united Ireland. They were determined to show their opposition and even reverse the Agreement. All Unionist MPs in the British House of Commons resigned their seats in protest. 400,000 signatures were signed in a petition against the Agreement. A mass rally was held in protest outside Belfast City Hall. On 3 March 1986, a unionist 'Day of Action' shut down Northern Ireland's shops, offices and factories.The homes of police officers were petrol bombed. [1] [2]

Incursion

Clontibret is about one mile from the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, in the Republic. The incursion took place on the night of 7 August 1986. The number of loyalists that took part is uncertain. Initial police reports stated that about 150 took part. [3] This figure was repeated by some news reports on the incident. [4] One news report stated a figure of about 200, apparently based on estimates made by locals. [5] The figure of 500 is often stated in secondary sources, based on the estimate that Peter Robinson gave speaking to a radio station from custody. [4] Robinson, deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and a sitting MP, was the most prominent figure involved. The extent of his involvement in planning the raid and leading the mob is unclear, though the incident has become very much associated with him.

Many loyalists took cudgels with them. However, none are believed to have brought firearms. After reaching the village, the mob proceeded to damage property. They damaged cars, broke windows and lights and uprooted small trees. Anti-Agreement graffiti was sprayed throughout the village. Graffiti was sprayed on a wall which, unknown to the invaders, was the perimeter wall of a Protestant church. [6] The iron gate of a school was ripped out and thrown onto the road. The village's unoccupied Garda station was attacked, with the Garda sign being stolen.

With many wearing paramilitary uniforms, the loyalists marched up and down the village's main street in a military fashion. Two unarmed Gardaí arrived at this stage and were attacked by the mob. The Gardaí were beaten up, with both of them later being sent to hospital. Armed Gardaí then arrived. Shots were fired into the air, causing the mob to disperse. All of the invaders made it back over the border except Peter Robinson, who was arrested. [7] It was suggested in one official report on the incident that Robinson may have deliberately held back to get himself arrested.[ citation needed ]

The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) had tipped off the Gardaí about a possible incursion in the area, assistance welcomed by authorities south of the border. [8]

Other loyalist shows of strength were planned for the same day. However, due to RUC activity, these were limited to the predominantly Catholic village of Swatragh in Northern Ireland, where a group of loyalists marched down the main street and caused property damage. [9]

Aftermath

Although the incident has gone down in history as being quite farcical, [10] it was met with strong condemnation at the time. Government ministers from both the United Kingdom and Ireland condemned it. The leaders of the Alliance Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party also condemned it. Ken Maginnis of the Ulster Unionist Party was also critical of the loyalists involved. [11] Peter Robinson and the DUP justified the incursion by saying that it was done to highlight the lack of cross-border security, despite reform in this area being promised under the Agreement. They claimed that the takeover of Clontibret proved that no real reforms had taken place, and was thus a propaganda victory for opponents of the Agreement. [12]

Peter Robinson was charged under the Offences Against the State Act. He was granted bail and appeared in court in Dundalk in August. He pleaded guilty to unlawful assembly, and was fined IR£17,500. The alternative was a prison sentence, which would have resulted in Robinson losing his Westminster seat. He was forced to give up deputy leadership of the DUP but he was later reinstated. The court hearing caused some 'Belfast-style rioting and petrol-bombing in Dundalk [10] [13] between local nationalists and police. Cars belonging to Robinson's supporters were damaged and petrol bombs were thrown. Robinson's supporters had had any items that could be construed as offensive weapons taken from them by the Gardaí when they crossed the border into the Republic. Robinson and DUP leader Ian Paisley made a formal complaint about the 'totally inadequate protection' they were given during the hearing. [9]

Ultimately, the incident had no effect on the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The Agreement went through, despite continuing opposition from loyalists, including the founding of the paramilitary organisation Ulster Resistance.

Speaking in January 2014, Ian Paisley claimed that the incursion had been planned by Robinson, who hoped for 'a tremendous uprising'. [14] This renewed speculation that Robinson had really sought to increase his standing within the DUP, and become leader. [15] Robinson rejected Paisley's account as a 'failure of recollection'. [16] He claimed that Paisley was initially meant to go and that Robinson only stood in for him after Paisley had to go to a funeral in the United States. [16] DUP sources speaking to the Belfast Telegraph backed Robinson's account, saying that Paisley was among the organisers. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Paisley</span> Politician and religious leader from Northern Ireland (1926–2014)

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, was a loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader from Northern Ireland who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2007 to 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Unionist Party</span> Political party in Northern Ireland

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. It is currently led by Gavin Robinson, who initially stepped in as an interim after the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson. It is the second-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and won five seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom at the 2024 election. The party has been mostly described as right-wing and socially conservative, being anti-abortion and opposing same-sex marriage. The DUP sees itself as defending Britishness and Ulster Protestant culture against Irish nationalism and republicanism. It is also Eurosceptic and supported Brexit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Robinson (Northern Ireland politician)</span> Northern Irish politician (born 1948)

Peter David Robinson is a retired Northern Irish politician who served as First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2008 until 2016 and Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 2008 until 2015. Until his retirement in 2016, Robinson was involved in Northern Irish politics for over 40 years, being a founding member of the DUP along with Ian Paisley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Irish Agreement</span> Treaty between Ireland and the United Kingdom seeking to end The Troubles in Northern Ireland

The Anglo-Irish Agreement was a 1985 treaty between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland's government while confirming that there would be no change in the constitutional position of Northern Ireland unless a majority of its citizens agreed to join the Republic. It also set out conditions for the establishment of a devolved consensus government in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William McCrea, Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown</span> British politician (born 1948)

Robert Thomas William McCrea, Baron McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician, Christian singer and retired Free Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland. As a politician, he represented South Antrim and Mid Ulster as their Member of Parliament (MP), representing Mid Ulster from 1983 to 1997; then South Antrim between 2000 and 2001, and then again from 2005 to 2015.

The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and subsequent political developments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Allister</span> Northern Irish politician (born 1953)

James Hugh Allister is a Northern Irish politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Antrim since the 2024 general election. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) in 2007 and has led the party since its formation. Prior to his election to Westminster, Allister was a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Antrim, having been first elected in the 2011 Assembly election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sammy Wilson (politician)</span> Northern Irish politician (born 1952)

Samuel Wilson is a Northern Irish politician who was Chief Whip of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the House of Commons from 2019 to 2024. Wilson has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Antrim since 2005. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East from 1998 to 2003 and for East Antrim from 2003 until 2015. He served as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 1986 to 1987 and again from 2000 to 2001, the first person from the DUP to hold the office. He has also served as Minister of Finance and Personnel and Minister of the Environment in the Northern Ireland Executive.

The Ulster Protestant Volunteers was a loyalist and Reformed fundamentalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. They were active between 1966 and 1969 and closely linked to the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee (UCDC) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), established by Ian Paisley and Noel Doherty in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clontibret</span> Village in County Monaghan, Ireland

Clontibret is a village and parish in County Monaghan, Ireland. The village population in the 2016 census was 172. Clontibret is also a parish in both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland traditions. The territory of the parish also includes Annyalla and Doohamlet as well as smaller settlements such as Cremartin, Scotch Corner and Lisnagrieve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Seawright</span> Scottish-born loyalist politician and paramilitary (1951–1987)

George Seawright was a Scottish-born unionist politician in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitary in the Ulster Volunteer Force. He was assassinated by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation in 1987.

The Ulster Clubs was the name given to a network of Unionist organisations founded in Northern Ireland in November 1985. Emerging from an earlier group based in Portadown, the Ulster Clubs briefly mobilised wide support across Northern Ireland and sought to coordinate opposition to the development of closer relations between the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The group's motto was "hope for the best and prepare for the worst".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Force (Northern Ireland)</span> Ulster loyalist paramilitary movement

The Third Force was the name given to a number of attempts by Northern Irish politician Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to create an Ulster loyalist 'defensive militia'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster Resistance</span> Ulster loyalist paramilitary movement

Ulster Resistance (UR), or the Ulster Resistance Movement (URM), is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary movement established by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland in November 1986 in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Ireland Assembly (1982)</span> Legislature of Northern Ireland 1982–1986

The Northern Ireland Assembly established in 1982 represented an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to restore the devolution to Northern Ireland which had been suspended 10 years previously. The Assembly was dissolved in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy McCaughey</span> Northern Ireland loyalist paramilitary (c. 1950–2006)

William McCaughey was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group and the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force's Glennane gang in the 1970s. He was imprisoned for 16 years for murder from 1980 to 1996. On his release he worked as a loyalist and Orange Order activist until his death in 2006.

John Oliver Weir is an Ulster loyalist born and raised in the Republic of Ireland. He served as an officer in Northern Ireland's Royal Ulster Constabulary's (RUC) Special Patrol Group (SPG), and was a volunteer in the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). As a member of the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade led by Robin "the Jackal" Jackson, Weir was a part of the Glenanne gang, a group of loyalist extremists that carried out sectarian attacks mainly in the County Armagh area in the mid-1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 Jonesborough ambush</span> Provisional IRA attack on RUC officers during the Troubles

The Jonesborough ambush took place on 20 March 1989 near the Irish border outside the village of Jonesborough, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Two senior Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers, Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan, were shot dead in an ambush by the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade. Breen and Buchanan were returning from an informal cross-border security conference in Dundalk with senior Garda officers when Buchanan's car, a red Vauxhall Cavalier, was flagged down and fired upon by six IRA gunmen, who the policemen had taken for British soldiers. Buchanan was killed outright whilst Breen, suffering gunshot wounds, was forced to lie on the ground and shot in the back of the head after he had left the car waving a white handkerchief. They were the highest-ranking RUC officers to be killed during the Troubles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flagstaff Hill incident</span> 1976 cross-border incident between Ireland and the United Kingdom

The Flagstaff Hill incident was an international incident between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It took place on the night of 5/6 May 1976 near Cornamucklagh, a townland just inside the Cooley Peninsula in the north of County Louth in the Republic of Ireland, when the Irish Army and Garda Síochána arrested eight British Special Air Service soldiers who had illegally crossed the Irish border.

The following is a timeline of actions during The Troubles which took place in the Republic of Ireland between 1969 and 1998. It includes Ulster Volunteer Force bombings such as the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in May 1974, and other loyalist bombings carried out in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, the last of which was in 1997. These attacks killed dozens of people and injured hundreds more. Also actions carried out by Irish republicans including bombings, prison escapes, kidnappings, and gun battles between the Gardaí (police) and the Irish Defence Forces against Republican gunmen from the Irish National Liberation Army, the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and a socialist-revolutionary group, Saor Éire. These attacks killed a number of civilians, police, soldiers, and republican paramilitaries.

References

  1. ↑ Tim Pat Coogan (2002). The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal and the Search for Peace. Palgrave. p.233
  2. ↑ The constitutional issue in Irish politics] in David Hill, The British and Peace in Northern Ireland , David Spencer, Cambridge University Press, 2015, p. 65
  3. ↑ Irish Protestants clash with police, Lewiston Daily Sun , 8 August 1986
  4. 1 2 "PETER ROBINSON ARRESTED WHEN ULSTER LOYALISTS INVADE IRISH REPUBLIC 1986 DUNDALK Part 1". YouTube .
  5. ↑ "Loyalist Mob invades Clontibret, Co Monaghan - Aug 1986". YouTube . January 2010.
  6. ↑ Living behind the Emerald Justine McCarthy Irish Independent , 14 April 2005
  7. ↑ Sales Consultant (9 January 2010). "PETER ROBINSON ARRESTED WHEN ULSTER LOYALISTS INVADE IRISH REPUBLIC 1986 DUNDALK Part 1" – via YouTube.
  8. ↑ 'RUC tipped off the Garda about Robinson’s ‘invasion’ of Clontibret', The News Letter , Sam McBride, 29 December 2014
  9. 1 2 'NI state papers 1985/86: RUC tipped off gardai over Robinson 'invasion', Eamonn Phoenix, BBC News, 29 December 2014
  10. 1 2 Coogan, Tim Pat (2002). The IRA . Palgrave Macmillan. p. 511. ISBN   0312294166.
  11. ↑ MacBridge (2014).
  12. ↑ 'RUC tipped off gardaí over Robinson 'invasion', The Irish News , 29 December 2014
  13. ↑ Coogan (2002), p. 233
  14. ↑ The secret split with Robinson and the 'beasts' who backed him, Nicola Anderson, Irish Independent , 2014
  15. ↑ Anderson (2014).
  16. 1 2 3 'Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson: A very public falling out', Rebecca Black, The Belfast Telegraph , 11 January 2014
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.