The INLA carried out its first shooting in 17 months on the night of December 1 when two armed men entered a house in Cairn Street in the lower Falls area of Belfast and shot Frank Lenaghan who was in the house.
The number of people unemployed in the 26 Counties are 303,657 according to the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed.
SUN. DECEMBER 3, 1995:
Angela and Stephen Lismore and their three children narrowly escaped with their lives in the 58th attack by loyalist death squads on their home at Black’s Road, in West Belfast when the front door was doused with petrol and set alight.
MON. DECEMBER 4, 1995:
A man had to be taken to hospital after collapsing and losing consciousness in a police cell in Cookstown, Co Tyrone. He was one of three people who were arrested after clashes in Cookstown between the RUC and a crowd of about 50 people.
WED. DECEMBER 6, 1995: The non-jury Special Court in Dublin convicted Republican Sinn Féin Ard-Chomhairle (national executive) member Michael Hegarty of handling a stolen vehicle on October 18, 1994 and sentenced the Clarecastle, Co Clare native to 15 months and 9 months on two charges, the sentences to run concurrently. A third charge of stealing a motor vehicle was dropped by the State.
FRI. DECEMBER 8, 1995: A 160-page report — Policing a Divided Society: Issues and Perceptions in Northern Ireland — severely criticised the conduct and structures of the Six-County RUC paramilitary police force.
Three months subsequent to his application for a US non-immigrant visa - and one week after President Clinton’s visit to Ireland — Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, President of Republican Sinn Féin, received a refusal from the US State Department.
The High Court in Belfast ruled that the coroner in the Pearse Jordan (shot dead by the RUC in Belfast in 1992) inquest acted correctly when he decided that RUC witnesses should not be named.
An alleged drug dealer, Paul Edward ‘Saul’ Devine, shot dead in south Belfast is believed to have been killed by the Provisionals’ military wing.
MON. DECEMBER 11, 1995:
The Dublin District Court granted the extradition to Britain of two Irish political prisoners, Nessan Quinlivan of Limerick and Pearse McCauley from Strabane, Co Tyrone, who were granted early release from Portlaoise prison on November 6 and immediately re-arrested to face extradition demands from the British authorities.
WED. DECEMBER 13, 1995: The punishment block of Cork jail, known as D Block or D Unit, was criticised by a European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) report on the treatment of prisoners in jails and police stations in the 26 Counties, published by the Dublin administration 18 months after they had received it from the CPT.
Patrick Kelly was given a temporary transfer from prison in Britain to Maghaberry prison in Co Antrim for a period of six months.
THURS. DECEMBER 14, 1995: Slogans appeared on the wall of Casement Park GAA grounds on the Andersonstown Road in west Belfast which said: “Adams — Remember Michael Collins 1923”.
The Six-County security minister, John Wheeler, has announced that the 150-year-old Crumlin Road jail in Belfast is to be closed.
British defence minister Michael Portillo said that there would be no further withdrawal of British troops from the Six Occupied Counties in the immediate future.
FRI. DECEMBER 15, 1995: Lawyers for Pat McLaughlin lodged an appeal at the Belfast High Court for leave to seek a judicial review of his case citing new evidence that showed he was incapable of taking part in the conspiracy to bomb Chelsea British army.
There are now 103,000 people out of work in the Occupied Six Counties, according to the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed.
SUN. DECEMBER 17, 1995:
The British Fair Employment Commission’s annual report showed that Catholics are still twice as likely to be unemployed as Protestants in the Six Occupied Counties.
MON. DECEMBER 18, 1995: At a bail hearing by the Dublin High Court Nessan Quinlivan (Limerick) and Pearse McCauley (Tyrone) were both granted bail of £60,000 each. Both political prisoners are appealing extradition orders to Britain granted by the Dublin District Court on December 11 last. The men face charges of escaping from Brixton jail in London in 1991.
At the same sitting of the Dublin High Court in Green Street, Dublin bail of £30,000 was granted to Derryman Robert McGilloway, who was charged on November 30 last by the Special Court with possessing explosives.
Francis Collins, from Bruslee Way in the New Lodge Road area of Belfast was shot dead at his chip shop in Lepper Street by a group calling themselves “Direct Action Against Drugs”. This is believed to be a cover name being used by the Provisionals.
Representatives of the political wing of the Provisionals met with the Mitchell Arms Commission, set up to facilitate "decommissioning” in Dublin.
TUES. DECEMBER 19, 1995: The British “security” minister for the Six Counties, John Wheeler, said there are 133,769 legally-held weapons there.
Christopher Johnson (38) was shot dead as he walked along Cooke Street on the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast. The group known as “Direct Action Against Drugs” claimed responsibility.
Figures released by the British government showed that 120 people were detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act between June and September 1995.
WED. DECEMBER 20, 1995: The British government said it would renew the “Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Bill” which covers political offences before the courts and the non-jury Diplock courts, for another two years.
Lindsay Robb, a member of the PUP delegation which held talks with the British government in 1995 was sentenced to ten years imprisonment on charges of conspiring to further the aims of the British-backed loyalist death squad, the UVF.
THURS. DECEMBER 21, 1995:
Republican Sinn Féin members were prevented forcibly by 26-County police from unfurling a banner protesting at the visit to Dublin of British Prime Minister John Major.
SUN. DECEMBER 24, 1995:
The British government paid the legal costs incurred by the relatives of the three Provisional members shot dead by the SAS at Gibraltar in 1988 when the European Court of Human Rights found that the three had been unlawfully killed.
WED. DECEMBER 27, 1995:
Martin McCrory (30), an alleged drug dealer, was shot dead when the group calling themselves Direct Action Against Drugs shot him through the window of his home in Turf Lodge in Belfast.
FRI. DECEMBER 29, 1995:
An incendiary device was defused in The Fly pub, at Lower Crescent, near Queen’s University in Belfast.
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