On This Day / October 12, 1970

Summary: On This Day – 12th October 1970, the Arms Trial heard claims of Irish Army training for Bogsiders, as protests swelled in Enniskillen and tensions flared in Derry. Edited by historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.

‘Irish Army Trained Bogsiders’ | On This Day – 12th October 1970

Men from the Bogside were trained in the South by the FCA [Local Defence Force], it was disclosed yesterday at the Dublin Arms Trial.

Mr Jim Gibbons (then Minister of Defence), who was cross-examined for four hours, said that a few days after the abortive attempt to bring arms into Dublin Port on March 25 [1970], Mr Neil Blaney (then Minister for Agriculture) asked him to allow his Department of Defence to be used to import arms.

Mr Gibbons said he had refused to do so and this angered Mr Blaney.

After the attempt to bring arms into Dublin Airport on April 17 Mr Gibbons claimed Mr Blaney tried to trap him by handing him a letter from a Hamburg arms dealer.

Cross-examined, Mr Gibbons said nine men from the Bogside had been enrolled in the FCA and trained in Donegal by the Irish Army in the use of arms.

[Editor’s note: When taoiseach Jack Lynch learned of this practice, he ordered its immediate cessation.]

Gerrymandered Council Under Fire

Upwards of 10,000 people are expected to attend the monster demonstration to be held today in Enniskillen to protest against the discriminatory policies of the Fermanagh County Council and against the imprisonment of members of the Fermanagh Civil Rights Association who refuse to pay fines imposed on them for forcibly occupying the County Council offices.

Six MPs will be among the speakers. Last night extra troops and police were being moved into the town in case of any outbreak of trouble.

Veto on Catholic School Contested

Mr Turlough O’Donnell, QC, Counsel for the appellant at a planning appeal yesterday, said that without compulsory purchasing powers, it was very difficult to get a site for a voluntary [Catholic] school.

Mr O’Donnell was appearing for the Bishop of Down and Connor in an appeal against the decision of Down County Council refusing permission for the erection of a girls’ grammar school at Ballylisbrendan, Comber Road, Dundonald.

Mr T C B Henderson, for the County Council, said permission had been refused because the twenty-acre site was outside the Matthew Stopline.

Peace by Poison Plan

WITH the ‘whole valley of the Bogside one huge gas chamber’, Nationalist President, Mr Eddie McAteer accused the British Army in Derry last night of planning to bring ‘peace by poison’ to NI.

As troops again sealed off the Bogside and fired gas canisters to dispel crowds of youths, the former MP said: ‘The whole valley of the Bogside is a huge gas chamber.’

On This Day – 12th October 1970

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