Drogheda woman Concepta Dempsey was one of the 34 people killed
Drogheda man Paul Murphy who was to become Editor of the Drogheda Independent, but at the time was a reporter with the Evening Herald, has painful memories of the day a bomb exploded in Talbot Street.
If he hadn’t stopped to talk to friends on his way home from work Paul might not have lived to tell the tale. He did survive however, and earlier this year he celebrated his 80th birthday, but the terrible sights he was confronted with that day will live with him for ever.
Among the 34 people killed in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings was Concepta Dempsey a Drogheda woman who lived on the Cord Road and worked as a shop assistant in Guiney’s, Talbot Street. She was seriously injured in the Talbot Street bombing and survived until June 11th, when she died at the Mater Hospital.
The death toll from the two bombings, which were claimed by the UVF in 1993, was the largest in any single day of the Northern Ireland conflict. Paul takes up the story:
“It is hard to believe that it is 50 years since the Dublin Monaghan bombings. It is a time to reflect on that terrible time and on the victims who lost their lives and those injured in this attack in our capital city.
“I was 30 and a reporter on the Evening Herald. At the end of each daily shift, varying between 3 and 4.30 I would leave Independent House in Middle Abbey Street, walk into O’Connell Street and make my way to Talbot Street towards Connolly Station to catch the train home to Drogheda, perhaps a 15-minute walk.
“Fate dealt me a fair hand that day. As I left Independent House I was in the company of reporters Liam Ryan, a fellow Drogheda man and Vincent Brown who were intent on going for a drink in the nearby Oval Bar.
“We stood chatting at the door of the pub for about 10 minutes. I reckon those 10 minutes saved my life. But for that delay I would have been halfway down Talbot Street and at the location of the bombing.
“The sound of the bomb reverberated around the city centre. Reporting instincts kicked in and we ran towards the source of the sound. Horrific scenes confronted us.
“Windows in every shopfront were shattered, alarms were going off, the dead and injured lay strewn on the street. Liam and I ran into the open door of a building and up to the third floor to see if we could get a better view of what had happened.
“When we came back to street level we were confronted by the sight of a man sitting on the pavement against an electricity supply metal box, his face shredded by flying glass and bleeding profusely.
“Further down the street paramedics and fire personnel were tearing at the rubble in an attempt to help the injured. One abiding memory of that day is the sight of VIncent Browne on top of a mountain of smouldering rubble tearing away with his hands in aid of the rescuers.
“It was a scene of utter chaos and distress. At one stage I heard that some casualties had been taken into the Moran Hotel. Down in the basement a group gathered a man lying wounded on the floor. People in the group said he had been walking with his sons on the street when the bomb went off. The children stood by, their shocked little faces taking in his awful scene, their hands held tightly by adults.
“After an hour or two at the scene I returned to Independent House to be despatched to Monaghan where more horror and grieving awaited.
“I didn’t realise the effect those scenes would have on me until two or three days later. In my lunch hour I went into Eason’s bookstore.
“I failed to hear a public announcement outside that the Army was about to carry out a controlled explosion on a vehicle that was parked in a suspicious state. The loud bang threw me into shock and I had to leave the city immediately in order to recover.
“In the last few days we have heard Micheal Martin say that the Government will release whatever files it has on the bombings. It won’t come a minute too soon for the families of the victims.
“We can only hope that the UK authorities will see their way in responding to this gesture by doing the same. Rest in peace the 34 victims and the unborn baby.”
