On This Day / September 25, 1970

Summary: On This Day – 25th September 1970, the Arms Trial opened in Dublin as Charles Haughey’s phone call over a gun cargo was revealed, while NI’s Roy Bradford launched an industrial jobs tour. Edited by historian Dr Éamon Phoenix.

Haughey Sought Clearance for ‘Arms for North’

A telephone call about a cargo due at Dublin Airport was of paramount importance in the case, Mr Justice O’Keeffe was told at the opening of the arms trial in the Four Courts, Dublin yesterday.

It would undoubtedly be established conclusively that the cargo consisted of 500 pistols and about 180,000 rounds of ammunition, prosecuting counsel said.

The call, he said, was made on April 18 last by the then Minister for Finance, Mr Charles Haughey, to Mr Peter Berry, secretary to the Department of Justice.

The telephone call was almost the final act in a conspiracy involving Haughey and the other accused men in the case under which they jointly and unlawfully agreed to import arms and ammunition into the country.

Haughey asked Mr Berry if he was aware of a certain cargo that was due to arrive at the airport on the following Sunday. Mr Berry replied that he was.

Haughey then asked him if the cargo would be let through if a guarantee was given that it could go directly to the North.

‘Mr Berry said No. Mr Haughey then said, I think that is a bad decision.’

When told that the cargo would be ‘grabbed’ Mr Haughey allegedly said, ‘I had better call it off.’

With Haughey, the other three accused are Albert Luykx, a Belgian businessman; James Kelly, a former Irish Army intelligence officer, and John Kelly, a native of Belfast.

Counsel said that Captain Kelly went on holiday to Northern Ireland in August 1969.

It seemed Kelly told Colonel Heffernan [his superior] that he was greatly moved by the events there and he felt a certain sympathy for a section of the population that was under attack.

Kelly told Colonel Heffernon that as early as mid-January [1970] a number of defence committees in the North had asked him for help in the purchase of arms for their defence.

At hearing.

Bradford Seeking New Jobs

NI Minister of Commerce, Mr Roy Bradford leaves this weekend on an industrial promotion tour of Europe in a major bid to solve the unemployment problem here.

During the next two weeks he will be meeting with industrialists, businessmen and financiers in Sweden, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and Germany.

Germany already has eight factories in NI.

Further Reading:

List of other On This Day columns

Other resources: National Library of Ireland Irish News CAIN Archive