Martin Doherty (Irish republican)

Martin "Doco" Doherty (11 July 1958 – 21 May 1994) was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who was shot dead while attempting to prevent a bombing by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at a pub in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Doherty was the first person to be killed in the Republic of Ireland by the UVF since 1975.

Doherty was born on 11 July 1958 in the Finglas area of Dublin, into a family of five brothers and six sisters. He played soccer for a club in Dunsink, in addition to Gaelic football. He joined the IRA's Dublin Brigade following the death of ten Irish republican hunger strikers in the 1981 Irish hunger strike. In 1982 Doherty was arrested and imprisoned in Portlaoise Prison due to the actions of a Garda informant, and was released in 1988. Following his release from prison Doherty began working as a labourer in the construction industry. He also returned to active service in the IRA's armed campaign in England. Doherty was arrested on his second visit to England and charged with conspiring to cause explosions, before being released in January 1991 due to lack of evidence and returning home to the Republic of Ireland.

On 21 May 1994 an event was organised by Sinn Féin's Prisoner of War Department to raise funds for the families of IRA prisoners at the Widow Scallans pub in Dublin's Pearse Street. Doherty was working as a doorman at the pub, and became suspicious of two men attempting to enter the pub carrying a holdall at 11 pm. Doherty challenged the men to prevent them entering the pub, was shot three times and later died in the hospital. Another doorman, Paddy Burke, was seriously injured when he was shot in the throat through the door of the pub after he closed it to prevent the gunmen entering. The gunmen left the scene in a car driven by a third man, leaving behind the holdall which contained an 18 lb bomb. The bomb's detonator exploded as people attended to Doherty and the other injured doorman, but the main explosives failed to ignite. The Gardaí stated a massacre had been avoided due to the bomb failing to explode properly.

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