The Central Bar bombing was a bomb attack on a pub in the town of Gilford near

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

in Northern Ireland on 31 December 1975. The attack was carried out by members of the

Irish National Liberation Army The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ) is an Irish republicanism, Irish republican Socialism, socialist paramilitary group formed on 8 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seeks to remove ...

(INLA) using the covername "People's Republican Army" although contemporary reports also said the "Armagh unit" of the "People's Republican Army" (the name under which the INLA operated throughout 1975) had claimed responsibility. Three Protestant civilians were killed in the bombing.

Background

A lot of members of the

Official IRA The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a " workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerg ...

(OIRA) were not happy with a ceasefire the group called in 1972 and in December 1974 the dissenters in the OIRA set up the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and a political wing called the

Irish Republican Socialist Party The Irish Republican Socialist Party or IRSP () is a minor communist, Marxist–Leninist and Irish republican party in Ireland. It is often referred to as the "political wing" of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) paramilitary group. ...

(IRSP). 1975 was one of the worst years of "

The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

" for attacks with civilian casualties with

Loyalist paramilitaries Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland (and formerly all of Ireland) within the Un ...

carrying out attacks including the

Strand Bar Bombing The Strand Bar Bombing was a bomb attack on a pub in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 12 April 1975, during the Troubles. The Red Hand Commando (RHC), a loyalist paramilitary group, threw an improvised bomb into a pub frequented by Catholics in the ...

, the

Miami Showband killings The Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband massacre) was an attack on 31 July 1975 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Irela ...

and the attacks at Donnellys bar and Kays tavern. And Republican paramilitaries carrying out attacks including the Mountainview Tavern attack, the Bayardo Bar and the Tullyvallen Orange Hall massacre. All of these attacks saw high numbers of civilian deaths and injuries. On 15 December 1975 the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from North ...

(UVF) killed Ronald Trainor a 17-year-old member of the IRSP after a bomb attack on his house in Ballyoran Park in

.Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, INLA – Deadly Divisions, 1994, p.83 - 84

The bombing

Henry MacDonald and Jack Holland said that it seemed the attack was in revenge for the killing of IRSP member Ronald Trainor two weeks earlier by the UVF. On 31 December (

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

) 1975 an INLA unit planted a time bomb in a duffel bag in the Central Bar pub in the mainly Protestant town of Gilford near

. The bomb, which contained 5–10 pounds of explosives, went off at around 21:10. A customer walked inside the bar where he saw the cylinder shape bomb in the hall of the pub & alerted people to the danger, most of the customers were in the lounge area of the pub and it went off almost instantly as the customer shouted the warning. The explosion killed three Protestant civilians, Richard Beattie (44), William Scott (28) and Sylvia McCullough (31) who died of her injuries the day after. 25 other people were injured in the bombing, two of them seriously and were taken to the Craigavon Area Hospital by ambulances. The pub itself suffered severe structural damage, especially to the front wall of the building.

Claim

Initially, the BBC said the

South Armagh Republican Action Force The South Armagh Republican Action Force (SARAF) shortened simply to the Republican Action Force (RAF) for a small number of attacks in Belfast was an Irish republican paramilitary group that was active from September 1975 to April 1977 during th ...

(the group who carried out the Tullyvallen massacre ) carried out the bombing, but a caller later claimed the bombing attack was carried out by the "(Armagh) People's Republican Army".

Conviction

A 29-year-old Portadown INLA member Francis Corry was given 4 life sentences in December 1979 for the three Central Bar killings and for that of 14-year-old Portadown boy, Thomas Rafferty killed by a booby-trap bomb in February 1976.

Aftermath

On 5 January 1976, just six days after the bar bombing ten Protestant workmen were shot dead and one badly injured by a group calling itself the

near Kingsmill in Armagh. This attack left 10 Protestant civilians dead. The night before that attack on the 4 January 1976, the UVF killed six Catholics in two separate attacks.

Sources

*Jack Holland, Henry McDonald, ''INLA – Deadly Divisions
CAIN project

References

{{INLA/IRSP 1975 in Northern Ireland 1975 murders in the United Kingdom 1970s in County Down Attacks on buildings and structures in 1975 Building bombings in Northern Ireland Attacks on bars in Northern Ireland December 1975 in the United Kingdom Explosions in 1975 Explosions in County Down Irish National Liberation Army actions Murder in County Down Terrorist incidents in County Down Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1975 1970s murders in Northern Ireland 1975 murders in Ireland Terrorist incidents in Ireland in the 1970s