Memorial event to mark 50th anniversary of the 1975 Dundalk bombing

A memorial event to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Dundalk bombing will take place at Crowe Street, Dundalk, on December 19.

The event, which is being organised by the families of Hugh Watters and Jack Rooney, who died in the 1975 bombing, will take place at the memorial erected near the courthouse and will feature music and a wreath-laying ceremony.

Louth County Council employee and fireman, Mr Rooney, and well-known and highly respected local tailor, Mr Watters, died in the Dundalk bombing, which happened when a device that was placed in a car outside the bar formerly known as Kay’s Tavern exploded.

A short time later, three people, including a father and son, were killed at Silverbridge.

The notorious Glenanne Gang, believed to be responsible for over a hundred killings during the Troubles, have been linked to the local atrocities.

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The Dundalk anniversary event comes as the Watters and Rooney families, along with a number of others who lost loved ones, await the publication of the Operation Denton report, which is looking at the actions of the Glenanne Gang, a group made up of UVF members with links to the UDR and RUC.

The inquiry is examining the extent to which the gang was controlled by the British state.

The December 19 event will start at 6.15pm at the bombing memorial in Crowe Street and will feature music, prayers, a specially commissioned poem and a speech from Margaret Urwin from Justice for the Forgotten, who has been supporting the

Dundalk families for decades in their quest for truth about what happened in 1975.

Everyone is welcome to attend.