Derg Valley Victims' Voice

Castlederg in Co Tyrone was an area that suffered with disproportionate severity at the hands of the IRA during three decades of terrorism. The IRA’s was a sectarian campaign waged against an isolated Protestant population of around 3,500 people, scattered across an area stretching from its’ western border with Donegal, 20 miles east to the River Mourne at Sion Mills, along a salient seven to ten miles north to south. As there were no static security force bases along the 50-mile stretch of border between Clady and Belleek, the Castlederg area was policed and secured by the people who lived there - RUC officers and UDR soldiers, many of whom were part-time and also held regular civilian jobs. It was an area from which the IRA sought to terrorise the Protestant population out of, and used intimidation, bomb attacks and murder in their attempts to do so. The international land border between the UK and the Republic provided republican bombers and gunmen with a valuable advantage in waging their terror campaign on the Protestants of the district. This advantage was extended by the lack of security effort on the part of the Irish state on its’ sovereign territory. Donegal was used by the IRA as an area to build bombs, store weapons and train gunmen. It was the launch platform for bombing-runs, and it provided a safe haven from where fleeing gunmen returned, secure in the knowledge that hot pursuit was impossible and the Irish security forces would take no interest in their activities. There is no doubt the Irish state’s actions - and often its’ inactions - facilitated the Provo campaign against Castlederg’s Protestants. It is shameful its government continues to refuse to meet our group to discuss specific cases of Irish state collusion. Fathers were shot dead in front of the children. Sons were blown to pieces in front of their parents. Protestants were targeted for assassination because of their religion. Shopkeepers, schoolteachers, ministers of religion served their community in face of the republican onslaught, and lived without respite under the shadow of terrorist attack. At the funeral of Reserve Constable William Monteith, murdered in November 1988, the Rev Roy Neil told mourners Mr. Monteith had expressed concern that he could be attacked as he attended his church. Rev Neil said: “We say our prayers in this part of the Province with the police at our gates. The fact they have to be there shows that dread pervades our time of worship”. Indeed, the security forces, their families, and the general population lived under the threat of attack for almost three decades. It was never a question of ‘if’ the IRA would strike again, it was a question of when, and who their next target would be.