The irony of when Marbin Gaye released ‘What’s Going On’ in January 1971 and what was going on in Northern Ireland at the time is crazy. We had continued rioting, punishment beatings, bombings, and confusion around policing, mixed with rumours about the rationale behind killings. What was going on indeed…
January 1971 began with members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) carrying out an early form of 'punishment attacks' by tarring and feathering four men who were accused of criminal activities in Catholic areas of Belfast. 'Punishment beatings', and 'punishment shootings' (where people were shot in the knee or elsewhere on the body with intent to wound but not kill) were to become a continuous feature of the conflict in Northern Ireland and were used by both Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groups.
On the 13th of January, riots began in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast. This would be a drop in the ocean in terms of trouble in Ballymurphy, with the worst to come later in 1971, as Northern Ireland became a powder keg. As the week progressed, the rioting spread across Belfast to the Ardoyne area.
There was a political milestone on the 17th of January when, at an Ard Fheis (party conference) in Dublin, the Official Sinn Féin ended the 65-year abstentionist policy and agreed that any elected representative could take their seat at the Dáil, Stormont or Westminster parliaments. This issue caused the split between the Official and Provisional movements in Republicanism.
On the same day, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) exploded a bomb at the Daniel O'Connell monument at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. The landmark was one of three blown up by loyalists in Dublin in January 1971. These landmarks were considered icons of Irish nationalism – the Wolfe Tone statue in St Stephen’s Green which was utterly destroyed, the O’Connell statue on the city’s main thoroughfare, which survived; and the round tower in Glasnevin, built in memory of the Irish politician remembered as the ‘Great Liberator’. The tower survived the blast, thanks to the three-foot-thick granite stones of its construction. However, with the windows and stairs blown out, it was sealed up, including the crypt at the bottom which contains the sarcophagus of Daniel O’Connell and the remains of several family members in a side chamber. The good news is that visitors to the O’Connell round tower monument in Glasnevin cemetery will soon be able to climb to the top for the first time in over 40 years, as per a report by thejournal.ie on the 7th of February 2023.
Rioting in Belfast continued throughout January, spreading to the Shankill Road area on the 23rd of January.
At 5.07 am on the 26th of January 1971, an explosion virtually destroyed the Customs & Excise station at Lifford, Co. Donegal. The bomb had been planted against the wall of the station, with the blast breaking windows in premises up to 400 yards away. There were no warnings and no claims of responsibility, and even after Gardaí conducted extensive local enquiries, no one claimed to have seen anything unusual or suspicious on the date in question. The last official to leave the building had done so at midnight.
Captain Gallagher of the Gardaí, Athlone, examined the scene. From the damage to surrounding buildings, he estimated that around 20 pounds of gelignite were used, however, no fragments or residues that might have indicated the composition of the device were found. It was widely believed that the UVF were responsible for the explosion.
Another life was added to the death toll in Northern Ireland on the 27th of January when the body f a man who had been shot was found in Belfast. John Kavanagh (28) was found by the Blackstaff river, off Rodent Street in Belfast, where it is believed he was murdered by the Provisional IRA. The young father of two was believed to have been the first suspected informer within the IRA.
The most intriguing thing for me in January 1971 was the reports that, following months of clashes between British soldiers and Irish nationalists in Ballymurphy, the British Army held secret talks with the IRA. It was agreed that, in parts of West Belfast, the IRA would be responsible for policing and there would be no activity by the British Army or RUC.
Some recommended reading based on the research for this instalment.
Ireland: The Key to the British Revolution by David Reed.
A Secret History of the IRA by Ed Moloney.