Traveling the streets of Dublin and heading to Connolly Station, it's easy to forget about the history here. In Continental Europe, I find the Stolpersteine monuments, the stumbling stones that commemorate the lives of those killed by the N*zis during World War II. This memorial is just as jarring and the history is more recent.
It reads, "In Memory of the victims who died in Dublin and Monaghan Bombings 1974."
And then it lists the names: Marie Butler | Anne Byrne | Simone Chetrit | John Dargle | Patrick Fay | Brenda Grace | Mary Mckenna | Ann Massey | Ann Marren | Dorothy Morris | Antonio Magliocco | John O'Brien | Anna O'Brien | Ann-Marie O'Brien | Jacqueline O'Brien | Concepta Dempsey | John Walshe | Christina O'Loughlin | Edward O'Neill | Marie Phelan | Siobhan Roice | Maureen Shields | Breda Turner | Josephine Bradley | Elizabeth Fitzgerald | Archie Harper | Peggy White | Jack Travers | Thomas Campbell | George Williamson | Patrick Askin | Colette Doherty | Thomas Croarkin | Baby Doherty | Baby Martha O'Neill
The May 17 1974 bombings were a series of coordinated attacks carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force. Three car bombs in Dublin during rush hour and the fourth in Monaghan 90 minutes later. They were the deadliest attack of the conflict and the deadliest attack in the Republic's history. No one has ever been charged - theories suggest that British security forces may have been involved.
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