Mairéad Farrell
| Mairéad Farrell | |
|---|---|
Mairéad Farrell
|
|
| Born | 3 March 1957 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 6 March 1988 (aged 31) Gibraltar |
| Cause of death | Internal haemorrhaging caused by multiple bullet wounds |
| Resting place | Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Other names | Máiréad Ní Fhearghail / Ní Fhearail |
Mairéad Farrell (Irish: Máiréad Ní Fhearghail or Mairéad Ní Fhearail;3 March 1957 – 6 March 1988) was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). She was killed by Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers during Operation Flavius, a British Army operation to prevent a bombing in Gibraltar.
Farrell was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland to a middle class family with no link to militant Irish republicanism other than a grandfather who was interned during the Irish War for Independence. She was educated at Rathmore Grammar School, Belfast which she left, aged 18, to work in an insurance broker's office. She met an IRA volunteer named Bobby Storey, who persuaded her to join the Provisional IRA.
On 1 March 1976, the British government revoked Special Category Status for prisoners convicted from this date under "anti-terrorism" legislation. In response, the IRA instigated a wave of bombings and shootings across Northern Ireland; younger members such as Farrell were asked to participate. On 5 April 1976, along with Kieran Doherty and Sean McDermott, she attempted to plant a bomb at the Conway Hotel in Dunmurry, as that hotel had often been used by British soldiers on temporary duty to Northern Ireland. She was arrested by Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers within an hour of planting the bomb. Her boyfriend Sean McDermott was shot dead by an RUC reservist at a nearby housing estate. McDermott and two other members of the IRA active service unit had broken into a home not realising it was the private residence of a policeman. The RUC officer shot McDermott dead; Doherty and another man escaped.
...
Wikipedia