Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape

The Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape occurred on 31 October 1973 when three Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Ireland, aboard a hijacked Alouette II helicopter, which briefly landed in the prison's exercise yard. The escape made headlines around the world and was an embarrassment to the Irish coalition government of the time, led by Fine Gael's Liam Cosgrave, which was criticised by opposition party Fianna Fáil. A manhunt involving twenty thousand members of the Irish Defence Forces and Garda Síochána was launched for the escapees, one of whom, Seamus Twomey, was not recaptured until December 1977. The Wolfe Tones wrote a song celebrating the escape called "The Helicopter Song", which topped the Irish popular music charts.

Following the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969, the Provisional IRA had conducted an armed campaign that sought to create a united Ireland by ending Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom. As a result of increasing levels of violence in Northern Ireland, internment without trial was introduced there in August 1971, and in the Republic of Ireland the coalition government led by Fine Gael's Liam Cosgrave was attempting to curb IRA activity. Fine Gael had come to power on a law and order ticket, with a policy of "getting tough on crime". Suspected IRA members were arrested and accused of IRA membership by a superintendent in the Garda Síochána, a crime under the Offences against the State Act. They were tried at the juryless Special Criminal Court in Dublin, where the traditional IRA policy of not recognising the court resulted in a fait accompli as no defence was offered and IRA membership carried a minimum mandatory one-year sentence, resulting in internment in all but name. In September 1973 IRA Chief of Staff Seamus Twomey appeared at the Special Criminal Court charged with IRA membership, and stated "I refuse to recognise this British-orientated quisling court". He was found guilty and received a five-year sentence. By October 1973 the IRA's command structure was seriously curbed, with Twomey and other senior republicans J. B. O'Hagan and Kevin Mallon all being held in Mountjoy Prison.

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