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IRA apologizes for murder of nine-year-old boy in 1973

Family wait almost 39 years for apology

By
ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, February 25, 2012, 10:33 AM
Updated Saturday, February 25, 2012, 10:33 AM

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Gordon Gallagher
Gordon Gallagher


The Irish Republican Army (IRA) apologized this week for the 1973 killing of a 9-year-old boy who happened upon a bomb while playing in his backyard.

For decades the group had blamed the British Army for the boy's death, but even after their confession the boy's father said Friday it was not enough.

The IRA admitted killing Gordon Gallagher after calls from the boy’s parents for First Minister Martin McGuinness, believed to have been the IRA leader in Derry at the time, to tell them who planted a bomb in their children’s play area and why.

In a statement the IRA said the group accepted responsibility and was "truly remorseful and profoundly sorry." It offered its apologies "for the pain and grief caused." The statement was made on the eve of the 39 anniversary of Gallagher’s death.

According to a report in the Washington Post, the boy had been running around in their back yard in Derry playing cowboys and Indians when he accidentally triggered a booby-trap bomb hidden in one corner.

Doctors at Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital tried to save his life by amputating both of his legs but could not save him.

"I am glad they take full responsibility and accept that they were to blame and no one else was," Gallagher's father said. But he insisted that McGuinness should provide his family much more detailed information on who did it and why.

Gallagher said that in the days after his son’s death, two unidentified IRA members came to his door to claim that their unit had planted the bomb but without a detonator. He said the IRA members lied that British soldiers must have added the detonator themselves to make the IRA look bad. "I never believed that for a second," Gallagher told BBC Radio Foyle.

In its statement , the IRA claimed it decided to call police before the explosion went off "because of the potential danger to the wider community." British Army units responded to their call, which made it impossible for IRA members to remove the bomb they claimed.

The statement also said the IRA assumed that the British searchers had found and defused the bomb, so the IRA didn’t check it had been made safe after the British left. Gordon Gallagher stepped on the bomb the next morning.

​
See more: IRA , Irish Crime , News from Ireland
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48 Comments

15 - 48 | See all comments

seanomelb | Mar 01, 2012, 05:39 PM EST
Using collateral damage as an excuse was a little cruel IrelandNorth.Tell me citizen why is Sinn Fein(the party of the PIRA)the preferred party of northern nationalist.

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citizen69 | Mar 01, 2012, 11:26 AM EST
"Why apologise for collateral damage?". What apathetic statement to make regarding this innocent child's life. On who's behalf were the PIRA fighting this war? Who's permission did they seek? They certainly don't speak for Ireland, They don't speak for northern Catholics and they don't speak for the people of Derry. They speak only for their own little bunch of extremists and to hell with anybody who gets in their way.

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Claredaughter | Feb 29, 2012, 07:08 PM EST
I think that someone, somewhere owes that family a child, and since he can't be replaced, they could at least have the decency to fess up and apologize....

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DanOLoingsigh | Feb 29, 2012, 02:03 PM EST
IrelandNorth - If you can't see that an apology was in order, then you're as twisted as the zealots who planted the bomb, and spent years in denial, blaming the other side...

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IrelandNorth | Feb 29, 2012, 06:32 AM EST
Why apologise for collateral damage? I regret the young lad lost his life. There are always civilian casualities, even in undeclared wars. His death is one of many in a long line of symptomatology of the disease of English/British imperialism/colonisation. The British and Irish governments have been progressively deconstructing partition since 1997 in time for the centenaries of 2016-'22. A consensual reunited Ireland will save such tragedies from happening again. Long live Ireland.

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maireadinmelb | Feb 29, 2012, 04:48 AM EST
I hope all the irish americans remember not to use violence or force on those who have allegedly wronged americans.... you know osama and saddam, Iran and North Korea! Oh yeah I forgot everyone else is to be peaceful and follow democratic principles except the USA and the Brits!

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seanomelb | Feb 28, 2012, 09:31 PM EST
I have not had a glass of milk for many,many years,it's a weaning food for babies.It's about time you left your mothers breast those bite marks are killing her.

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seanomelb | Feb 28, 2012, 09:27 PM EST
I do not drink milk nor have I for many,many years.

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DanOLoingsigh | Feb 28, 2012, 07:32 PM EST
Seano - are you saying that no milk is better than half a glass of it?

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DanOLoingsigh | Feb 28, 2012, 07:31 PM EST
Sparklet - Yes, some lads joined the IRA out of anger, just as some young loyalists joined their 'militia'...and we live with the consequences...consider if the nationalists had presented a united, non-violent front, could they have persuaded the Brits to embrace a UI future? Would they have been more amenable, and could they have sold it to their electorate...we'll never know the answer...but they could never have been seen to give in to demands backed by a terrorist campaign...

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seanomelb | Feb 28, 2012, 05:41 PM EST
The SDLP is now a rump party because it failed. To quote Hume "A half full glass of milk is better than none" he was to willing to co-operate with the British and accept less than full equality.He follows that long line of light green politicians namely Lord Fitt and Eddie McAteer(A Scot). McAteer was not half the man of his brother Hugh.

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FallsRNat | Feb 28, 2012, 05:13 PM EST
The major PSF/PIRA contribution to the peace was not to stop killing the britsh prods living in Ireland, the UFF/UVF had successfully killed at least 25 PIRA volunteers in the last 5 years before the ceasefires, they killed Eddie Fullerton in Donegal to show that nowhere was safe & nearly killed 150 PIRA supporters in the Dublin Widow Scallens bomb. One of the most articulate terrorists I have met was Davy Irvine who successfully made the transistion from gunman to politician and freely admitted to his paramilitary past - Gezza take note, when asked why they targeted republicans, he laughed and played a taped conversation between a major republican to a loyalist in which they 'said they would stop killing' loyalists if they stopped killing provies, as Irvine said 'naff off' so there we have it, once they were being killed they didn't like it, whilst it was an ordinary catholic well they was alright. A lot of secrets are waiting to come out of this dirty sordid little war and rightly where the loyalists, brits, irish have taken stick on their own shortcomings, the provies 'holier than thou' attitude will come back to haunt them.

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Sparklet | Feb 28, 2012, 01:21 PM EST
Dan I appreciate what you're saying but I do know of some lads who joined the IRA out of anger over civil rights. Young and impressionable, probably misguided, but they weren't the only ones.

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DanOLoingsigh | Feb 28, 2012, 01:12 PM EST
Sparklet...the SDLP was a Nationalist party, who represented their constituency without recourse to killing and bombing...most Catholics turned to them and voted for them throughout 'The Troubles'. Their policy was to end partition through negotiation and consent...which is now SF policy. The major SF/IRA contribution to peace was to agree to stop killing those opposed to its then policies, and while welcome, should not be confused with the long term hard work and efforts of others...it shouldn't take hindsight to recognise this....

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cynicus | Feb 28, 2012, 01:00 PM EST
Murder is murder is murder!

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