On This Day / March 6, 1971
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
19710306
Reference Date
19710306
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – tensions followed IRA feuding on Belfast’s Falls Road as truce talks continued, while Stormont ministers vowed to eliminate the IRA from Northern Ireland. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Truce Moves | On This Day – 10th March 1971
THE Falls Road area of Belfast, where a young man was shot dead and three others injured on Monday, was peaceful last night as truce negotiations between rival IRA groups were going on.
Mr Tomas MacGiolla, President of Sinn Fein (Gardiner Place), said the negotiations went on all day yesterday and last night but he was unable to say how successful they had been.
The only incidents reported in Belfast this morning were two explosions, one at the Northern Bank at Atlantic Avenue and the other outside the Gallaher tobacco firm in York Street
Monday night’s shooting on the Falls in which 26-year-old Charles Hughes was killed was followed yesterday morning with the wounding of another man. He was sitting in the cab of a van when three men approached.
One of them drew a gun and is reported to have shot the victim at very close range. The wounded man is dangerously ill.
Some IRA sources said the killing of Mr Hughes was the result of a clash between individuals – not between the Officials and Provisionals.
Police were told yesterday that a group of IRA Provisionals had visited clubs in the Falls area on the night of the killings.
At a bar on the corner of Sultan Street and Bosnia Street they ordered customers outside, then hurled a firebomb into the building.
Taylor: Aim to ‘Wipe Out IRA’
REFERRING to recent shootings in the Falls area, the Stormont Minister of State at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr John Taylor said at Stormont yesterday that responsibility for the deaths lay on the various branches of the IRA.
It was the firm resolve of the Government, he told the House, to see that the IRA was wiped from the streets of Nl.
Mr Taylor said that the vast majority of the Catholic community were opposed to the IRA.
The Minister said it was an internal dispute between the two wings of the IRA, the Provisionals and the ‘Gouldingites’ [Official IRA].
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: The Provisional IRA campaign witnessed the first of a series of deadly feuds between the two wings of the IRA in Belfast – the left-leaning ‘Officials’ or ‘Stickies’, led by Dublin-based Cathal Goulding, and the rapidly- growing Provisionals under a mainly Northern leadership of ‘40s men’ like Joe Cahill and younger recruits, soon to become prominent.
John Taylor, MP for South Tyrone, was a member of the Joint Security Committee at Stormont Castle along with the PM, RUC Chief Constable and GOC.)
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to remove certain details to protect the privacy of individuals who were not public figures at the time of the events described.
On This Day – 10th March 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710306
Reference Date
19710306
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Listen Along in Éamons Voice
Summary: On This Day – tensions followed IRA feuding on Belfast’s Falls Road as truce talks continued, while Stormont ministers vowed to eliminate the IRA from Northern Ireland. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Truce Moves | On This Day – 10th March 1971
THE Falls Road area of Belfast, where a young man was shot dead and three others injured on Monday, was peaceful last night as truce negotiations between rival IRA groups were going on.
Mr Tomas MacGiolla, President of Sinn Fein (Gardiner Place), said the negotiations went on all day yesterday and last night but he was unable to say how successful they had been.
The only incidents reported in Belfast this morning were two explosions, one at the Northern Bank at Atlantic Avenue and the other outside the Gallaher tobacco firm in York Street
Monday night’s shooting on the Falls in which 26-year-old Charles Hughes was killed was followed yesterday morning with the wounding of another man. He was sitting in the cab of a van when three men approached.
One of them drew a gun and is reported to have shot the victim at very close range. The wounded man is dangerously ill.
Some IRA sources said the killing of Mr Hughes was the result of a clash between individuals – not between the Officials and Provisionals.
Police were told yesterday that a group of IRA Provisionals had visited clubs in the Falls area on the night of the killings.
At a bar on the corner of Sultan Street and Bosnia Street they ordered customers outside, then hurled a firebomb into the building.
Taylor: Aim to ‘Wipe Out IRA’
REFERRING to recent shootings in the Falls area, the Stormont Minister of State at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr John Taylor said at Stormont yesterday that responsibility for the deaths lay on the various branches of the IRA.
It was the firm resolve of the Government, he told the House, to see that the IRA was wiped from the streets of Nl.
Mr Taylor said that the vast majority of the Catholic community were opposed to the IRA.
The Minister said it was an internal dispute between the two wings of the IRA, the Provisionals and the ‘Gouldingites’ [Official IRA].
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: The Provisional IRA campaign witnessed the first of a series of deadly feuds between the two wings of the IRA in Belfast – the left-leaning ‘Officials’ or ‘Stickies’, led by Dublin-based Cathal Goulding, and the rapidly- growing Provisionals under a mainly Northern leadership of ‘40s men’ like Joe Cahill and younger recruits, soon to become prominent.
John Taylor, MP for South Tyrone, was a member of the Joint Security Committee at Stormont Castle along with the PM, RUC Chief Constable and GOC.)
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to remove certain details to protect the privacy of individuals who were not public figures at the time of the events described.
On This Day – 10th March 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
19710306
Reference Date
March 6, 2021
Publication Date
Listen Along in Éamons Voice *
Summary: On This Day – tensions followed IRA feuding on Belfast’s Falls Road as truce talks continued, while Stormont ministers vowed to eliminate the IRA from Northern Ireland. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Truce Moves | On This Day – 10th March 1971
THE Falls Road area of Belfast, where a young man was shot dead and three others injured on Monday, was peaceful last night as truce negotiations between rival IRA groups were going on.
Mr Tomas MacGiolla, President of Sinn Fein (Gardiner Place), said the negotiations went on all day yesterday and last night but he was unable to say how successful they had been.
The only incidents reported in Belfast this morning were two explosions, one at the Northern Bank at Atlantic Avenue and the other outside the Gallaher tobacco firm in York Street
Monday night’s shooting on the Falls in which 26-year-old Charles Hughes was killed was followed yesterday morning with the wounding of another man. He was sitting in the cab of a van when three men approached.
One of them drew a gun and is reported to have shot the victim at very close range. The wounded man is dangerously ill.
Some IRA sources said the killing of Mr Hughes was the result of a clash between individuals – not between the Officials and Provisionals.
Police were told yesterday that a group of IRA Provisionals had visited clubs in the Falls area on the night of the killings.
At a bar on the corner of Sultan Street and Bosnia Street they ordered customers outside, then hurled a firebomb into the building.
Taylor: Aim to ‘Wipe Out IRA’
REFERRING to recent shootings in the Falls area, the Stormont Minister of State at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr John Taylor said at Stormont yesterday that responsibility for the deaths lay on the various branches of the IRA.
It was the firm resolve of the Government, he told the House, to see that the IRA was wiped from the streets of Nl.
Mr Taylor said that the vast majority of the Catholic community were opposed to the IRA.
The Minister said it was an internal dispute between the two wings of the IRA, the Provisionals and the ‘Gouldingites’ [Official IRA].
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: The Provisional IRA campaign witnessed the first of a series of deadly feuds between the two wings of the IRA in Belfast – the left-leaning ‘Officials’ or ‘Stickies’, led by Dublin-based Cathal Goulding, and the rapidly- growing Provisionals under a mainly Northern leadership of ‘40s men’ like Joe Cahill and younger recruits, soon to become prominent.
John Taylor, MP for South Tyrone, was a member of the Joint Security Committee at Stormont Castle along with the PM, RUC Chief Constable and GOC.)
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to remove certain details to protect the privacy of individuals who were not public figures at the time of the events described.
On This Day – 10th March 1971
Further Reading on Irish History:
List of other On This Day columns
Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive
On This Day is a daily column in the Irish News looking back either 50 or 100 years. The column was compiled by Dr Éamon Phoenix from the mid 1980s until autumn, 2022. The Foundation is very grateful to the Irish News for giving permission to reproduce Eamon’s columns. Funding gratefully received from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and the Magill Trust.
* The Foundation has worked hard to recreate Eamon’s distinctive voice through AI. Since this is an emerging technology, occasional imperfections may be audible.