The Dublin and Monaghan Bombings on 17th May 1974 left 33 people dead, the largest number of casualties in any incident in The Troubles in Ireland.

Three car bombs exploded within a few minutes of each other in the centre of Dublin. They were followed shortly after by a fourth car bomb in Monaghan, a small town in the Republic of Ireland just south of the border with Northern Ireland.

Around 20 years later Yorkshire Television made a programme on the bombings in co-operation with a number of retired officers in the Gardaí, the police force in the Republic of Ireland. The programme claimed that the bombings were the work of the Ulster Volunteer Force, a loyalist paramilitary organisation. This hardly came as any surprise, although the programme did name a number of UVF members who took part in the bombings, who had since been killed in the Troubles. However, they also claimed that loyalist paramilitaries did not have the ability to carry out bombings like that at that time (e.g. forensic examination showed that the bombs had been built with some sophistication). The Gardaí officers claimed that the UVF had been assisted by elements in British intelligence. After this, there were questions asked in the Dail, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.

External links

• Dublin and Monaghan bombings
• Organisation of victims and relatives of the bombings