Northern Ireland

Army Helicopter at GAA Game Sparks Angry Protests – On This Day in 1974

October 1986. Bird's eye view...... When Armagh beat Kerry in the All-Ireland final 2002, the defeated manager was asked how they lost. he told a reporter Armagh hadn't beat them- thirty years of helicopters had beat them . I knew what he meant. Crossmaglen Rangers pitch was at the centre of a long running controversy. Because the British Army occupied part of the ground. As I covered this match the chopper went straight up and right over the pitch. The players did not seem to notice.
A British army helicopter crosses the pitch at Crossmaglen Rangers GAA grounds in 1986
By Cormac Moore
February 24 1974

The landing of a British helicopter twice yesterday at Crossmaglen GAA grounds during a football match, disrupting play, led to angry protests by the Armagh County Board of the GAA and Crossmaglen Rangers GFC to the officer in charge of the Welsh Regiment in Crossmaglen and military in Lisburn.

Mr Gene Larkin, chairman of Crossmaglen GFC, said he proposed to take the matter up with the British Army again today.

A protest was also made last night at headquarters in Lisburn by Mr Thomas Lynch, chairman of the Armagh County Board.

Mr Paddy Short, chairman of Crossmaglen Civil Rights Association, said the attitude of the military at the football match was “disgraceful”. He said the CRA would fully support whatever action the GAA would take towards the further use of the grounds by the Army.

Last night, Mr Eugene Duffy, secretary of Crossmaglen GFC, said that, although protests were made verbally after the first landing, disrupting an under-16 challenge game between Crossmaglen and Silverbridge, the second helicopter landed during the principal match – a senior county league game between Crossmaglen and Ballylagan, an hour later.

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“The incidents were patently provocative and the Army’s attitude was that they would land where and when they wished,” he said.

With the British Army taking over part of the Crossmaglen GAA ground in the early 1970s, it continued to provoke club members and town residents until the late nineties, when it finally departed.
The Sunningdale talks resulted in agreement on the creation of a power-sharing executive and Council of Ireland
The Sunningdale talks resulted in agreement on the creation of a power-sharing executive and Council of Ireland
McIvor: Council of Ireland Must Be Built on Trust

A Council of Ireland built on the concept that it was a step towards a united Ireland could not succeed. This was stated by the northern Minister of Education, Mr Basil McIvor, in Cork last night.

To succeed, said Mr McIvor, a Council of Ireland must be built on the concept that it was a forum to foster understanding and development for the benefit of people north and south.

Mr McIvor, addressing a conference in University College on the subject “Evolution towards Peace in Ireland”, said: “A Council of Ireland which demanded of either the abandonment of sincerely-held beliefs is totally unrealistic. This doctrine must be spread to the people that matter – the electorate in both parts of Ireland.”

He said a successful Council of Ireland must be built on understanding by all sides of the differing aspirations of others, on mutual respect and on absolute trust. The Sunningdale agreement would stand or fall on whether that mutual respect or trust could be maintained. They in the north would be looking to the south for support in the defeat of terrorists and the isolation and elimination of extremism. In the south they would be looking to the north for a similar elimination of extremism and for a more extroverted and less defensive approach to their neighbourly relationship.

“I would suggest to you that for every extremist which either side can isolate and leave helpless, one will disappear on the other side,” Mr McIvor said. “Extremists feed off each other, justify each other and if one examines recent statements by both the Provisional IRA and the UVF, almost seem to co-operate with each other when it suits. A determined all-Ireland effort to eliminate extremism in whatever form would be a most meaningful contribution to the quest for lasting peace.”
Official Ulster Unionist and Minister of Education Basil McIvor, in a speech in Cork, plays down the significance of the proposed Council of Ireland, a body anti-Sunningdale unionists were claiming would lead to a united Ireland.