On This Day / September 6, 1971
Go BackReproduced with permission from The Irish News.
September 6, 2021
Publication Date
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Summary: On This Day – 6th September 1971, the killing of 18-month-old Angela Gallagher brought widespread revulsion, while Jack Lynch and Edward Heath prepared for talks at Chequers. Edited by Éamon Phoenix.
Revulsion at Baby’s Killing | On This Day – 6th September 1971
BABY Angela Gallagher’s death in a Belfast shooting brought a wave of revulsion last night.
Aged just eighteen months, she died in the arms of her seven-year-old sister, Paula. Both had been paying a visit to the home of their grandparents in Iveagh Crescent.
Angela, the 64th victim of this year’s Troubles in the North, was toddling along with her sister pushing a tansad when hit in the head by a ricocheting bullet meant for a nearby Army patrol.
Another bullet ripped through Paula’s skirt without injuring her. Later Paula talked of the moment when their pram-pushing game turned to terror:
‘She was walking between me and the pram when I heard a bang in my right ear. Angela fell down and I could not pick her up. I asked a wee girl to carry her.’
The children live with their parents, Mr Peter Gallagher (26) and his wife Irene (24) in Cavendish Street. There are two other children. The shots came from a car.
Police claimed that the shooting was without the shadow of doubt the work of the IRA. It showed their complete and total disregard of all human life.
UDR Man Shot Dead
A MEMBER of the UDR, Mr Francis Robert Veitch (23) [a farmer] was killed yesterday while on guard duty outside a border RUC station at Kinawley, County Fermanagh. He was the second UDR man to die this year.
Lynch-Heath Summit
TODAY’S summit at Chequers between the Taoiseach, Mr Jack Lynch and the British PM, Mr Heath will be a preliminary operation to clear the ground for a long-term solution to the Six County problem, it was felt in Dublin.
No dramatic results are expected immediately but both sides regard it as a stepping stone to more decisive talks later in the year.
Officials see a second meeting as announcing a formula to give Catholics a stronger voice in the affairs in the North.
Mr Lynch sees the North’s troubles are springing from basic political inequalities in the present system at Stormont.
He is expected to propose a new system of government based on PR. But Mr Heath will defend internment and Downing Street stresses that ‘the sovereignty of Nl will not be an issue ’.
(Éamon Phoenix editor’s note: THE tragic death of little Angela Gallagher, collateral damage in an IRA attack on British troops, left people numbed and revolted. Yet It was soon overtaken by reports of other deaths in Belfast and on the border.
At the Chequers summit, Jack Lynch would find a haughty Ted Heath resentful of Dublin’s ‘interference in the UK’s internal affairs’.)
On This Day – 6th September 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.