Miami Showband Memorial - Parnell Square North, Dublin, Ireland
N 53° 21.251 W 006° 15.860
29U E 682065 N 5915160
The Miami Showband memorial, entitled "Let's Dance", is to the memory of three of the band that were murdered in 1975. The sculpted memorial, by Redmond Herrity, is located on the north west side of Parnell Square and was unveiled in 2007.
Waymark Code: WMQWKK
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Date Posted: 04/07/2016
Views: 4
The Irish Times website reported the unveiling of the memorial:
Ahern unveils Miami Showband memorial.
Victims of the Miami Showband massacre, gunned down in one of the most shocking atrocities in the Troubles, will today be remembered with a permanent memorial in Dublin.
The monument, to be unveiled by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, will pay tribute to the three men murdered by loyalist gunmen in Newry, Co Down, in July 1975.
Tony Geraghty, Fran O'Toole and Brian McCoy were killed in a hail of bullets by the Ulster Volunteer Force after a planned bomb attack backfired.
Survivors Stephen Travers and Des McAlea will remember their band mates at the service outside the former National Ballroom on Parnell Square North.
Family members from as far away as Canada are also travelling to the capital for the event.
The memorial is constructed of limestone bronze and granite and sculpted by Donegal artist Redmond Herrity.
It will be unveiled during an inter-denominational prayer service celebrated by Catholic priest Fr Brian D'Arcy and Anglican rector, the Rev Robert Dean.
Eurovision Song Contest winner and former MEP Dana Rosemary Scallon will also sing.
Families and friends of the dead helped raise more than €20,000 towards the cost of the monument by holding a charity concert night.
The Miami Showband was one of the country's most popular live bands in the 1970s.
The five men were returning from performing at a dance in Banbridge, Co Down, when their minibus was flagged down by men dressed in army uniforms.
The band was told to line up while UVF members, posing as Ulster Defence Regiment members, tried to plant a bomb inside the minibus to explode later on as the musicians headed home to Dublin.
But as the gang loaded the bomb, it exploded prematurely, killing two UVF members Harris Boyle and Wesley Sommerville.
The gang then opened fire on the band, killing three of the five.
The plaque that is located above the memorial is worded:
| |
"Let's Dance"
|
|
| |
In memory of
|
|
|
Tony
Geraghty
(24)
|
Fran
O'Toole
(28) |
Brian
McCoy
(32)
|
Members of the Miami Showband
murdered 31st July 1975 at
Buskhill Newry Co Down |
| Sculptor: Redmond Herrity |
The CAIN website tells us about the memorial:
Memorial Title: Miami Showband Memorial ("Lets Dance")
Commemorating: The three members of the Miami Showband who were killed by the UVF.
Date of Incident: 31 July 1975
Description: The monument is comprised of three elements. A small bronze plaque set into stone and mounted on a wall at waist height. A metal sculpture representing a dance movement. And brass 'footprints' set into the pavement on the street. The central element represent the three members of the Miami Showband who were killed. The different height of the three performers is represented in the sculpture and their ages are represented by the different number of 'dots' incorporated in the sculptor.
Inscription(s): Names and ages of those killed along with the location of the killings.
Nature: Civilian
Physical Type: Plaque, and sculpture with bronze 'footprints' on the pavement.
Physical Materials: Stone and Metal Brass Bronze
Setting: Street
Access: Public Unrestricted
Artist(s): Redmond Herrity (Sculptor)
Date Unveiled: 10 December 2007
Wikipedia has an article about the killings that advises:
The Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband Massacre) was an attack by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, on 31 July 1975. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. Five people were killed, including three members of The Miami Showband, who were then one of Ireland's most popular cabaret bands.
The band was travelling home to Dublin late at night after a performance in Banbridge. Halfway to Newry, their minibus was stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint, where gunmen in British Army uniforms ordered them to line up by the roadside. At least four of the gunmen were serving soldiers from the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) but, unbeknownst to the band, all were members of the UVF. While two of the gunmen (both soldiers) were hiding a time bomb on the minibus, it exploded prematurely and killed them. The other gunmen then opened fire on the dazed band members, killing three and wounding two. It is believed the bomb was meant to explode en route, killing the band and framing them as IRA bomb-smugglers, and possibly leading to stricter security measures at the border.
Two serving British soldiers and one former British soldier were found guilty of the murders and received life sentences; they were released in 1998. Those responsible for the attack belonged to the Glenanne gang; a secret alliance of loyalist militants, rogue police officers and British soldiers. There are also allegations that British military intelligence agents were involved. According to former Intelligence Corps agent Captain Fred Holroyd, the killings were organised by British intelligence officer Robert Nairac, together with the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade and its commander Robin "The Jackal" Jackson. The Historical Enquiries Team, which investigated the killings, released their report to the victims' families in December 2011. It confirmed that Jackson was linked to the attack by fingerprints.
The massacre dealt a blow to Northern Ireland's live music scene, which had brought young Catholics and Protestants together. In a report published in the Sunday Mirror in 1999, Colin Wills called the Miami Showband attack "one of the worst atrocities in the 30-year history of the Troubles". Irish Times diarist Frank McNally summed up the massacre as "an incident that encapsulated all the madness of the time".