Photograph: Paddy WhelanEven then, Fr Alec Reid, who had said prayers over the two dead British soldiers, was helping to spur the beginning of the dialogue between SDLP leader, John Hume and Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams. Through all the years of the Troubles Northern Ireland had never erupted into actual, full-scale civil war. On the Tuesday, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) shot dead Charles McGrillen (25), a Catholic trade unionist. A day later, a British tabloid had a piece headlined: “How a Dead Man Saved My Life”. Saturday was the funeral of IRA man Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh.

Source: The Irish Times March 19, 2018 06:00 UTC