David Burke & The Dublin Bombs

The source of the bombs used in the attacks on Dublin and Monaghan.

The components of the bombs detonated in Dublin were sophisticated, surpassing the capabilities typically associated with the UVF. Although the identities and roles of several bombers have been revealed over time, there has been no information disclosed about a bomb maker within the UVF.

The sophistication of the bomb materials was comparable to that of the Provisional IRA at the time. This suggests that the materials might have been seized from the IRA and subsequently released from the custody of the RUC or the British Army for use in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Another possibility is that they were produced by British bomb experts.

Colin Wallace has revealed that the belief at HQNI in the aftermath of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings was that the bombs had been supplied to the UVF by people who worked ‘within the security community’. Wallace has said:

‘The belief, certainly by certain people are Army Headquarters in Lisburn, was that some of the explosives used in the Dublin bombings had been provided from security sources – and that was security forces in the wider sense, which could mean from the RUC, from the UDR or from the Army, it wasn’t specific, but it was a genuinely-held belief that that had been the case and that the planning and some of the organising of that operation had been done with the assistance of people who were working within the security community.’

There are multiple indications of MI5 involvement in the 1974 atrocities.

Inside Loyalist circles, one member of the Dublin and Monaghan gang told the Loyalist terrorist Michael Stone that Robert Nairac had supplied the explosives for the attacks. (None Shall Divide Us page 245).

But where were they made?

Charlie Simpson reveals what Jackson told him about the Dublin and Monaghan bomb

The three cars used in Dublin were hijacked in Belfast by a UVF gang led by William ‘Frenchie’ Marchant and supplied to UVF confederates who ferried them to Dublin.

The vehicle deployed in Monaghan was lifted in Portadown and taken across the Border by a unit of the Mid-Ulster UVF led by Stuart Young. It was driven by Samuel Whitten.

The components of the bombs detonated in Dublin were sophisticated, surpassing the capabilities typically associated with the UVF. Although the identities and roles of several bombers have been revealed over time, there has been no information disclosed about a bomb maker within the UVF.

As noted in the introduction (and repeated here to maintain the chronology), Charlie Simpson, who knew Jackson well, stated that Jackson:

‘told me the UVF in Belfast had been provided with pre-made explosive devices and scout cars were used to get the cars with the Dublin/Monaghan bombs on board safely delivered. The British did not organise the bombings but they supplied the equipment. Jackson mentioned people at Mahon Road army base in Portadown. He used nicknames of these people.

After the explosives were prepared, the belief is that they were brought by Captain John Irwin, of the UDR to James Mitchell’s farm at Glenanne.