UK complicit in citizens’ murder during Troubles

GAA President Jarlath Burns stated that during the Troubles, residents of South Armagh lived in fear of rogue police officers and soldiers collaborating with loyalist paramilitaries. He further asserted that the British state was complicit in the deaths of its own citizens.

Donnell’s Bar Attack Remembered

Burns made these remarks at a vigil commemorating the 50th anniversary of the gun and bomb attack on Donnell’s Bar in Silverbridge. The attack, which occurred on December 19, 1975, resulted in the deaths of Trevor Bracknell, 32, Patsy Donnelly, 24, and Michael Donnelly, 14.

The attack is believed to have been carried out by a unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), known as the Glenanne Gang, which allegedly worked with members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the Ulster Defence Regiment.

Addressing several hundred people at the candlelit vigil, Burns described how the attack fundamentally altered life in the area. “For years afterwards, many of us feared the night. We feared the sound of a car slowing on the road,” he said. He added that residents feared patrols by the RUC and UDR, believing those conducting the patrols were connected to those murdering their neighbors.

Burns stated that members of the Glenanne Gang were responsible for 127 murders, many of which occurred in South Armagh. He criticized the lack of investigation into crucial lines of inquiry and the failure to share critical information with investigators following the attack.

“Families were left not only with grief, but with silence – a silence enforced by the state,” Burns said. “Let us say this plainly, standing here together: the state being complicit in the murder of its own citizens is something that has never been properly explained, never fully atoned for, and never sincerely apologised for.”

He continued, stating that secrecy was used to protect institutions rather than people, intelligence was withheld, and warnings were ignored, with families bearing the consequences, particularly during Christmas.

An independent inquiry, codenamed Operation Denton, is currently examining the activities of the group referred to as the Glenanne Gang. Its full report, including details of the Donnell’s Bar attack, is expected to be published early next year.

Burns emphasized the importance of fully revealing the truth. “What happened here must be known. Not only the violence of that night, but the injustice that followed – the silence, the denial, and the failures that deepened the suffering of families and of this community,” he said. “Not because we seek revenge. But because justice matters. Because memory matters. And because silence has already taken too much.”