MON. MAY 4, 1998: A small explosion on the Belfast to Dublin rail line caused it to be closed for 24 hours and commuters to be taken to Dundalk by bus. A caller, using a recognised codeword, contacted the Irish News newspaper and said that two explosions had been carried out on the line.
Two mortars were fired at the Grosvenor Road RUC station in west Belfast. One fell short and exploded in Devenish Court off the Grosvenor Road, causing no injuries. The other exploded in its tube.
WED. MAY 5, 1998: The Balcombe Street Four – Joe O'Connell, Hugh Doherty, Eddie Butler and Harry Duggan — were transferred to Portlaoise prison from prisons in England after serving 22 months and five months each. Two other prisoners, William Quinn and Paul 'Dingus' Magee were also transferred from English prisons to Portlaoise.
SAT. MAY 9, 1998: Mortars were launched from the grounds of the Carlton Hotel in an attack on the RUC barracks at Belleek, Co Fermanagh. No one was injured in the attack.
A group of dissidents from the Provisionals' military organisation, who are believed to have the same aims and objects as the 32-County Sovereignty Committee, issued a statement saying that the organisation's ceasefire was over and military attacks would resume.
A 15-year-old nationalist youth was assaulted by a loyalist mob from the Ballycraigy Estate in Antrim town who beat him with hammers and baseball bats after he became separated from friends near Rathmore Gardens in the town.
A nationalist postman was threatened by two masked men as he delivered mail in Fitzroy Avenue in Portadown, Co Armagh.
SUN. MAY 10, 1998: A member of the RUC was hurt in clashes between nationalists and loyalists in Lurgan, Co Armagh. Two people were arrested.
FRI. MAY 14, 1998: Michael Stone, the loyalist death squad member who shot dead three people at a funeral at Miltown Cemetery in west Belfast in 1988, appeared, to rapturous applause, at a UDP meeting in Belfast.
SAT. MAY 15, 1998: The LVF loyalist death squad issued a statement saying they were calling a 'ceasefire'. British army bomb disposal experts were called to examine a trailer containing mortar launchers which was found burned out near Kinawley, Co Fermanagh, 500 yards from the Border.
A car-bomb was discovered close to RUC headquarters in Armagh city. The car, a Toyota Carina, contained 750lbs of explosives and was defused by a British army bomb disposal expert.
TUES. MAY 19, 1998: A bomb, thought to have been dispatched by a loyalist death squad, containing explosives in a video-tape was sent to the Dublin Tourist offices in St Andrew's Street in Dublin.
WED. MAY 20, 1998: A caller using a recognised code word of the Continuity IRA told a Belfast newspaper that a rifle-propelled grenade had been fired at the Masonic British army base in Bishop Street, Derry at 9.30am. The Bishop Street and Magazine Street areas of Derry were saturated by Crown Forces after the attack.
A package containing a bomb was sent to a tourist office in Sligo town. The device was destroyed and no one was injured.
THURS. MAY 21, 1998: Several nationalist residents of the Oldthorne Park area near the White City, Belfast had to endure an ongoing attack on their homes from a loyalist mob using the grounds of Hazelwood school as their vantage point from where they launched stones at nationalist homes at 8.30pm. A number of windows were broken in the attack.
John Marshall, brother of Sam Marshall (31) who was shot dead by a British-backed loyalist death squad as he and two fellow Provisionals left Lurgan RUC barracks after signing a bail book in March 1990, received notice of the decision of the Armagh coroner, conveyed to him by family lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, not to hold an inquest into his death.
FRI. MAY 22, 1998: Nationalist youths launched a series of sustained attacks against the British Colonial police (RUC) in several parts of Derry city as they removed ballot boxes at the end of polling on the Stormont Agreement. The most intensified attack occurred outside the polling station at the Holy Child primary school in Creggan when youths surprised RUC members exiting the polling station with an avalanche of petrol bombs, many of the missiles were reported to have hit their targets.
Other attacks reported were at the RUC leaving polling stations at the Holy Family primary school in Ballymagroarty. Trench Road primary school in the Gobnascale area and at Melmount in Strabane, County Tyrone.
British Crown Forces narrowly missed death when a bomb exploded as it was being examined by British army bomb experts on a stretch of railway line in Belfast. The device was found under a bridge at Finaghy halt on the outskirts of south Belfast at around 11pm. It exploded half an hour later as the British bomb squad were approaching the device. Minutes after the blast a man who the British colonial police (RUC) claimed was acting suspiciously was arrested at the scene. A second man was later detained.
Shortly before 6pm, three armed and masked men commandeered a bus in the Derrybeg area of Newry, took the passengers off and ordered the driver to take the bus to Newry Court House. British bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion on a device left on the bus. It was later declared to be a hoax.
Figures released by the British Northern Ireland Office revealed that over 170 people were arrested in the Occupied Six Counties during the first four months of 1998 under repressive legislation, of whom 36 were charged with an offence.
SAT. MAY 23, 1998: The results of the referendums on the Stormont Agreement were: 26 Counties 'Yes' 94.39%, 'No' 5.61%. Turnout: 56.26%; Six Counties 'Yes': 71.12%, 'No' 28.88%. Turnout: 81.10%. The result of the referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty was: 'Yes' 61.7%, 'No' 31.3%.
Two Co Louth cousins were arrested by the 26-County political police Emergency Response Unit (ERU), within 300 yards of the Border. Kieran McDonagh (36) and Paddy McDonagh (35), both with addresses in Dundalk were driving two separate cars, a BMW and a Toyota Carina on a quiet country road at Carrickaneena, Co Louth just before 5pm when they were met by a large force of 26 County police. An examination of the vehicles revealed approximately 440lbs of home-made explosives was being carried in the Toyota Carina. The BMW was said to contain 500lbs along with a booster tube packed with explosive material and a quantity of cortex detonating wire.
MON. MAY 25, 1998: The loyalists who have been picketing Harryville Catholic Church in Ballymena, Co Antrim for more than 20 months announced that the picket has been called off.
TUES. MAY 26, 1998: The two arrested on May 23 — Kieran McDonagh (36) and Paddy McDonagh (35) — on the Louth/Armagh Border men appeared before the Special Court in Dublin where Paddy McDonagh could be seen showing signs of 26 police brutality—a black eye and extensive bruises to the face. They were each charged with possession of 938lbs of improvised explosive mixture, a booster tube and detonating cord with intent to endanger life. They were also charged with possession of explosives in suspicious circumstances. The men were remanded in custody until June 11.
Residents of Crossmaglen, Co Armagh claimed that a British army patrol fired a shot in the air in the Larkin's Road district.
FRI. MAY 29, 1998: The home of a Protestant man and his Catholic fiancé at Artigarvan, near Strabane, Co Tyrone was attacked when three gunmen opened fire through a window at the rear of the house. Lee Britten and Teresa McGuinness and their two sons were in the house at Leckpatrick Gardens when they heard the shots and found one of the spent rounds lying in the cot where their two-month-old baby Dillon lay sleeping. No one was injured.
SAT. MAY 30, 1998: Eleven RUC members and at least three civilians were injured when a junior Orange parade was allowed by the British parades Commission to parade down part of the Garvaghy Road in Portadown, Co Armagh. The RUC then baton-chared local residents who were protesting and they responded by hurling petrol bombs, stones and bottles at the RUC, backed up by the British army. Crown Forces fired many plastic bullet rounds, injuring nationalist protesters and a television cameraman.
Following an initiative by GAA President Joe McDonagh at the GAA annual Congress in April, the GAA held a special conference to decided whether Rule 21, which forbids membership to the British Crown Forces of the organisation, should be retained or deleted. The conference decided against removing the rule.
SUN. MAY 31, 1998: The RUC and British army were attacked by masked men throwing petrol bombs when they went to Lurgan Golf Club, Co Armagh.
There was also a bomb alert on the Dublin-Belfast railway line near Lurgan. Services were disrupted and passengers were ferried by bus from Lurgan to Belfast.
A van was hijacked and set alight on the Newry by-pass.
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