SUN. MAY 5, 1996: The British-backed death squad the UVF claimed that it had planted bombs at Dublin Airport. Dublin Airport was sealed off and searched but nothing was found.
MON. MAY 6, 1996: Derry GAA supporters returning from the National Football League final in Dublin were attacked by loyalist mobs at Newbuildings on the outskirts of Derry city.
TUES. MAY 7, 1996: Shannon Town Commissioners requested permission to send a deputation to Limerick jail to investigate the poor conditions for the nine Republican prisoners there.
WED. MAY 8, 1996: Over 100 jobs are to go at Thomas Sinton Flax Spinners in Tandragee, Co Armagh because of falling orders.
FRI. MAY 10, 1996: The 50th anniversary of Sean McCaughey's death on hunger and thirst strike in Portlaoise Prison on May 11, 1946 was marked by a lecture delivered by Ruairi O Bradaigh at Buswell's Hotel, Dublin.
The nine Republican prisoners in Limerick Prison marked the anniversary by a 24-hour fast from Saturday, May 11 to Sunday, May 12.
The number of people unemployed in the 26 Counties is 305,273, according to figures supplied by the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed.
TUES. MAY 14, 1996: The Natural Law Party announced its decision to withdraw from the British 'List' of "pet political parties" along with its 41 candidates and instead called for a boycott on May 30.
The British government transferred cancer sufferer Paddy Kelly from Maghaberry to Portlaoise prison.
British Home Secretary, Michael Howard, announced an inquiry into the contamination of forensic equipment at the Forensic Explosives Laboratory in Sevenoaks, Kent when forensic scientists discovered the contamination while cleaning a centrifuge machine, which has been used in the analysis of evidence in all bomb cases since 1989. Traces of RDX, a substance found in Semtex, were discovered on a rubber bung.
WED. MAY 15, 1996: Stephen Larkin was freed from Belfast Crown Court after three years and two months in prison accused of an attempt on the life of UVF leader Johnny Adair when new witnesses came forward to say that Larkin was with them in the Highfield Social Club at the time of the attack on Adair and another man near the Shankill Road, Belfast in March 1993.
Joe Keenan (37), from Croaghan Gardens, Andersonstown, Belfast, a senior member of the IRSP, was shot and seriously injured.
SUN. MAY 19, 1996: A soldier of the Royal Irish Regiment of the British army, Geoffrey Robert Anderson, shot two men, William Doherty and Paul Martin, and seriously injured a woman, Georgina Blair, in Belfast before shooting himself.
There are now 101,900 people out of work in the Six Occupied Counties, according to the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed.
Up to 40 loyalist thugs, believed to be from the loyalist Tiger's Bay, wearing balaclavas and carrying baseball bats and sticks attacked the nationalist area of Duncairn Gardens, Belfast early in the morning, trying to force their way into a number of houses but residents managed to barricade themselves in. Cars and homes were damaged in the onslaught.
Gary McMichael, leader of the UDP, claimed that the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) which was an umbrella term for the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commandos has broken down.
Brendan Dowd of Kerry, who has been incarcerated in English prisons for almost 21 years, was transferred to Portlaoise prison.
An uncle of Gavin Malcolm, the 15-year-old sectarian murder victim who was thrown off a block of flats after being beaten on April 8, 1994 reacted angrily after an RIR British soldier served only 48 hours of a two-year sentence for his part in the murder.
MON. MAY 20, 1996: Republican Sinn Féin held a press conference at the Conway Mill, Belfast attended by President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Vice-President Mary Ward, National Treasurer Joe O'Neill and members of the organisation from the Six-County area calling for nationalists to boycott the election farce on May 30.
SAT. MAY 25, 1996: Desmond McCleery (37) from Lurgan in Co Armagh was shot dead in Belfast's Chicago Pizza Pie Factory in another incident in the INLA feud which has continued since the death of Gino Gallagher in January of this year.
THURS. MAY 30, 1996: The election farce in the Six Counties took place.
FRI. MAY 31, 1996:
The results of the Stormont/Forum election in the Six Occupied Counties was as follows: Ulster Unionist Party, 24.17% (30 seats); SDLP, 21.37% (21 seats); Democratic Unionist Party, 18.80% (24); Provisional Sinn Féin, 15.47% (17 seats); Alliance Party, 6.54% (7 seats).
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