JUNE 1996

TUES. JUNE 4, 1996: The London and Dublin administrations agreed that former US Senator George Mitchell should chair the so-called “multi-party” talks due to begin in the Six Occupied Counties on June 10.

FRI. JUNE 7, 1996: The number of unemployed in the 26 Counties is 281,500, according to figures supplied by the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed.

A member of the 26-County police Special Branch, Gerry McCabe, was shot dead and a colleague seriously injured, in an attempted robbery by the Provisionals' military wing at Adare, Co Limerick.

SAT. JUNE 8, 1996: At its meeting the Ard Chomhairle of Republican Sinn Fein condemned Free State Minister Nora Owens' attempts to break Republican prisoners in Limerick Prison by denying them basic humane treatment.

Peter Kavanagh, an eighteen-year-old nationalist, was viciously beaten by eight loyalists, armed with sticks, spikes and Stanley knives on his way home from the city centre to the Short Strand area of Belfast.

SUN. JUNE 9, 1996: In an article in the Belfast Sunday Life British prime minister John Major repeated his pledge that any outcome of the multi-party talks must be approved by the British parliament at Westminster, as well as by a Six-County referendum.

Francis Shannon was shot dead in Belfast in the continuing INLA feud.

RUC British police in full riot gear attacked residents of the nationalist Alexander Park area of north Belfast in an apparent backing-up role of a loyalist mob.

Residents in Dunloy, Co Antrim held a protest against a Royal Black Preceptory loyalist march through the nationalist town.

MON. JUNE 10, 1996: The so-called multi-party talks began in Stormont Buildings outside Belfast.

A meeting of the Anti-Stormont Campaign Directorate in Monaghan decided to continue their campaign against the reimposition of a new Stormont.

The Fruit of the Loom textile plant with factories in Derry and Donegal announced that 2,500 of its 3,000 workers will be put on a three-day week from July 1 until the end of December.

David Heeney (30), an inmate of Mountjoy prison, Dublin died shortly after being removed to the Mater Hospital. He was the fourth Mountjoy prisoner to die this year.

TUES. JUNE 11, 1996: Three Republicans, Michael Hegarty (Co Clare), Robert McGilloway (Derry) and Patrick Fee (Co Monaghan), appeared before the Special Court in Dublin in connection with an explosives find in County Monaghan on November 10, 1995. They were remanded until July 9.

Jeremiah Sheehy, from Co Limerick, was charged before the Special Court with membership of the IRA and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life at Adare, Co Limerick on June 7. He was later treated at Portlaoise General Hospital for injuries inflicted during his period in police custody in Limerick.

WED. JUNE 12, 1996: John Quinn (28) of Patrickswell, Co Limerick was charged at the Special Court with membership of the IRA and unlawful possession of ammunition at Patrickswell on June 6. Quinn was taken to hospital four times while he was in police custody in Limerick and his barrister stated in court that he had injuries to the face and body.

THURS. JUNE 13, 1996: The chief constable of the British paramilitary police in the Six Counties, Hugh Annesley, was granted leave by Belfast High Court to appeal two decisions made by the coroner in the inquest on Patrick Shanaghan, who was murdered by the UDA British-backed death squad in 1991.

John Gallagher from Co Donegal who successfully challenged his exclusion from Britain in the European Court of Justice lost a claim for damages in the London Court of Appeal.

FRI. JUNE 14, 1996: At a press conference in Dublin the Birmingham Six described the compensation offered by the British government for their wrongful conviction and years in prison as “pathetic” and said they would continue to fight for adequate compensation of at least £1,000,000.

SAT. JUNE 15, 1996: A one-and-a-half tonne Provisional bomb devastated Manchester city centre injuring 200 people and causing damage estimated at £500 million.

SUN. JUNE 16, 1996: John McElhinney, Tyrone, gave the oration at the annual Wolfe Tone Commemoration in Bodenstown, County Kildare.

It was reported that Fr Denis Faul has asked Amnesty International to carry out an urgent inquiry into reports that two men arrested following the killing of a 26-County policeman in Adare, County Limerick on June 7 were mistreated while in custody.

WED. JUNE 19, 1996: Amnesty International launched its annual report and highlighted the inadequacy of the inquest procedure in the Six Counties and called for killings by British Crown Forces to be investigated fully. The report also welcomed the finding of the European Court of Human Rights that the British government had violated the right to life of the three unarmed Provisional members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar in 1988.

The number of people out of work in the Six Occupied Counties is 85,400, according to official figures which do not include those on employment or training schemes.

THURS. JUNE 20, 1996: After more than four months eight male Republican prisoners on A2 landing in Limerick prison won the right to their own exercise yard for outdoor recreation.

The inquest into the killing of Patrick Shanaghan by the UDA British-backed death squad in 1991 resumed and concluded after the RUC blocked two pieces of evidence showing collusion from being admitted to the hearing.

Dublin political police members raided a farmhouse at Clonaslee, Co Laoise and claimed to have discovered a Provisional bomb-making factory and to have seized up to 60 kilograms of Semtex plastic explosive, 16 mortar bombs and other bomb-making materials in a bunker beneath the farmhouse and in a shed beside the house.

Michael O'Neill (45) of Patrickswell, Co Limerick was remanded in custody at the Special Court in Dublin charged with IRA membership and having a firearm with intent to endanger life at Adare, Co Limerick, on June 7.

FRI. JUNE 21, 1996: A delegation from Republican Sinn Fein handed a letter, drawing attention to the ongoing repression of Republicans in the 26 Counties, to the United States Ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith, on the occasion of her visit to Kiltyclogher, Co Leitrim.

Scores of people were dragged off the Cliftonville Road in the nationalist area of north Belfast by the RUC when more than 300 nationalists staged a sit-down protest against an Orange march through the nationalist area.

Combined RUC and British army checkpoints were reinstated in many parts of the Six Counties. Security gates were closed again in many towns including Armagh, Banbridge, Lurgan and Portadown.

SAT. JUNE 22, 1996: The Dublin justice minister Nora Owen was met by a dozen picketers carrying a large banner and waving placards calling for political status for Republican prisoners in Limerick when she arrived at her Saturday morning political clinic in the north Dublin town of Swords at noon.

Residents of a nationalist area in east Belfast have accused the British RUC police of storm-trooping through the area “looking for a fight”. Families in the Short Strand district were returning from a charity function at St Matthew's parochial hall in the early hours of the morning when RUC Land-Rovers blocked off the Mountpottinger Road without warning and attacked local people.

The Chief Constable of the RUC paramilitary police, Hugh Annesley, said during the presentation of his annual report that there would be a loyalist backlash if there were to be any military attacks against the British in the Six Counties.

SUN. JUNE 23, 1996: Another prisoner, Thomas Keane (20) was found hanging in his cell in St Patrick's Institution, Dublin.

MON. JUNE 24, 1996: Four men were charged with possession of explosives at the Special (non-jury) Court in Dublin following a 26-County police raid on a farmhouse at the foot of Slieve Bloom in Clonaslee, County Laois on the evening of June 20. Three are from Dublin: John Conaty (35), Gabriel Cleary (52) and Bryan McNally (54) and the fourth, Michael Cully (46), is from Clonaslee, County Laois.

TUES. JUNE 25, 1996: The heir to the British throne, Charles Windsor, arrived in the Six Occupied Counties for a three-day visit.

WED. JUNE 26, 1996: The investigative journalist, Veronica Guerin from Dublin, was shot dead while waiting at traffic lights on the Naas Road at Clondalkin, Co Dublin. She was the first journalist to be killed to be killed in the course of her duties in Ireland.

FRI. JUNE 28, 1996: A British army base at Osnabruck in Germany was attacked by mortars. No one was injured in the attack, subsequently claimed by the Provisionals.

SUN. JUNE 30, 1996: Ten nationalist homes had their windows broken by loyalist mobs in Bleach Green Avenue in Newtownabbey in north Belfast. Loyalist youths collecting wood for a Twelfth bonfire smashed windows of a house in North Queen Street in Belfast.
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