Ulster Resistance, the UDA, the IRA, and the 1993 Shankill bomb. I set out to write a relatively short piece about the Belfast UDA post Anglo-Irish Agreement, compared to the same organisation in the 1970s. It’s become more complex than I first intended, more and more sources became available, and very interesting themes emerged. This piece is to explore two of those themes: Ulster Resistance, and the IRA’s 1993 Shankill bomb, which killed ten people, eight of whom were politically uninvolved civilians, including women and children. Ulster Resistance and the UDA post Anglo-Irish Agreement Sometime after taking control of the West Belfast UDA/UFF (hereafter referred to as the UDA), John James “Johnny” Adair met with an organisation, shadowy even by Irish paramilitary standards, in the pursuit of weaponry to step up his campaign against, he claims, the IRA. That organisation was Ulster Resistance. The number of dead nationali...
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Holy Cross ➖ An Exceptionally Troubling Episode (1)
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Victimised children: An ecumenical shame The most prolific killer of children during the Troubles was the IRA. A book, Children of the Troubles , details 186 children (under the age of 16) who were killed. 43% of them died at the hands of republican paramilitaries. 27% were killed by loyalist paramilitaries, and 26% died at the hands of the security forces. Whilst researching this piece, I discovered that paramilitaries counted statistically fewer children among their victims that the security forces. Republicans were responsible for 59% of all Troubles related deaths, loyalists for 29%, and the security forces for 10%. The supposed forces of law & order were pro-rata more enthusiastic killers of children than paramilitaries. Many of the children killed died in indiscriminate bombings. One bombing that does not fit that description is the IRA operation to kill Lord Louis Mountbatten. Described by the IRA as " … one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the atte...