# McGurk's Bar Massacre

> 4 December 1971


## Posts

- [54th Anniversary of the McGurk's Bar Massacre](https://mcgurksbar.com/54th-anniversary-of-the-mcgurks-bar-massacre/): 54th anniversary of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre and cover-up by the British state. Thoughts as always with our families, friends, and supporters. The McGurk’s Bar Campaign for Truth thanks you all for your continuing support. The McGurk’s Bar Campaign for Truth has been busy again this year despite losing some of our key campaigners last […]
- [Information Rights Tribunal Judgement: Police Lies and the Protection of Agents](https://mcgurksbar.com/information-rights-tribunal-judgement-police-lies-and-the-protection-of-agents/): In an historic legal win for the families, the Information Rights Tribunal has ordered the Chief Constable of Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) to disclose evidence in Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) files regarding the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. This followed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) battle that has lasted over four years for the origin of […]
- [Historic Legal Victory for Massacre Families: PSNI Fails to Prove Origin of Police Lies](https://mcgurksbar.com/historic-legal-win-for-massacre-families-psni-fails/): An Information Tribunal has ordered the Chief Constable of Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) to hand over evidence in police files regarding the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. In a historic legal win for the families, the Information Rights Tribunal has ordered the Chief Constable of Police Service Northern Ireland to disclose evidence in Royal Ulster Constabulary […]
- [No Reform for the Campbell Clan](https://mcgurksbar.com/no-reform-for-the-campbell-clan/): Another member of the Bridgeton Campbell clan was in the news this week. The British rightwing populist Reform UK [a private limited company] removed Craig Campbell as its Scottish organiser after the Daily Record approached Nigel Farage’s party about Campbell’s Facebook posts and family background. The newspaper revealed Campbell to be the son of William […]
- [British Army Observation Posts: Photo Appeal on Massacre Anniversary](https://mcgurksbar.com/british-army-observation-posts-photo-appeal/): Photo appeal on the 53rd anniversary of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. The families of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre Campaign for Truth have launched a photo appeal that could provide further visual proof of key British Army observation posts overlooking the Gem Bar and McGurk’s Bar taken by an unknown photographer the morning after the massacre. […]
- [John Taylor Should Put Up or Shut Up](https://mcgurksbar.com/john-taylor-should-put-up-or-shut-up/): John Taylor is attempting to blacken the good names of the victims of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre online again by insinuating they were not innocent in the atrocity which claimed the lives of 15 civilians including women and 2 children on 4th December 1971. As readers of this website know, before we had buried our […]
- [Ciarán Murphy: 50th Anniversary of Ardoyne Gael](https://mcgurksbar.com/ciaran-murphy-50th-anniversary-ardoyne-gael/): Today (13th October 2024) marks the 50th anniversary of the murder of Ardoyne Gael, Ciarán Murphy. Ciarán was 17 years of age when he was abducted and murdered by a gang of Loyalist extremists that included several British state agents. This article is printed with the permission of his nephew, Niall Ó Murchú. It featured […]
- [Information Commissioner's Office ICO Upholds Police Decision to Withhold Fingerprint Evidence](https://mcgurksbar.com/ico-upholds-psni-withholding-fingerprint-evidence/): Information Commissioner Office (ICO) Supports PSNI Withholding Evidence. Press Release. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has upheld Police Service Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) refusal to release basic information relating to fingerprint evidence police gathered in the aftermath of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre in 1971. The families believe the police have either destroyed the evidence or it […]
- [Sam McClenaghan - Stalwart of the McGurk's Bar Campaign for Truth - Dies](https://mcgurksbar.com/sam-mcclenaghan-campaign-stalwart-dies/): Sam McClenaghan – one of the oldest and most determined family members of the McGurk’s Bar Campaign for Truth – has died aged 94. It is with heavy hearts and profound sadness that we announce the passing of Samuel “Sam” McClenaghan, a cherished husband, father, grandfather, and tireless family campaigner. Sam left this world peacefully […]
- [Our Resistance to Forced Forgetting - Academic Study by Professor Laura McAtackney](https://mcgurksbar.com/resistance-to-forced-forgetting-mcatackney/): A powerful academic study of our work by Professor Laura McAtackney is open to all from today. You now have open access to Professor McAtackney’s research paper: “Material Dissonances in the Post-Conflict City: Re-Presencing Social Injustice in Belfast, Northern Ireland”. Professor McAtackney has produced a compelling study on the power of memorialization and our campaign […]
- [Attorney General Orders New Inquests for Massacre Victims](https://mcgurksbar.com/attorney-general-orders-new-inquests/): The Attorney General of Northern Ireland has ordered new inquests for victims of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. In a landmark decision, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland has ordered new inquests for victims of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. 15 civilians including 2 children were murdered in the no-warning Loyalist bomb attack on McGurk’s Bar on […]
- [Information Watchdog Investigates Police Refusal](https://mcgurksbar.com/information-watchdog-investigates-police-refusal/): Information Commissioner Office Investigates Police Again. Press Release. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating Police Service Northen Ireland’s refusal to hand over basic information relating to fingerprint evidence police gathered in the aftermath of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. The families believe the police have either destroyed the evidence or it relates to named Loyalist […]
- [Spooks: the Battle for Belfast and the BBC](https://mcgurksbar.com/spooks-the-battle-for-belfast-and-the-bbc/): Ongoing information battles against the cops after we proved Brigadier Frank Kitson and the cops had a secret agreement to blame the victims of the massacre.
- [McGurk's Families Contest Information Tribunal Against Police on Anniversary](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-anniversary-tribunal-against-police/): Ongoing information battles against the cops after we proved Brigadier Frank Kitson and the cops had a secret agreement to blame the victims of the massacre.
- [Kitson-Cop Collusion - Information Watchdog Rules Against the Cops](https://mcgurksbar.com/kitson-cop-collusion-information-watchdog-rules-against-cops/): Ongoing information battles against the cops after we proved Brigadier Frank Kitson and the cops had a secret agreement to blame the victims of the massacre.
- [ICO Upholds Massacre Families’ Complaint Against Police](https://mcgurksbar.com/ico-upholds-massacre-families-complaint-v-cops/): The Information Commissioner’s Office has upheld our complaint against the police regarding the discovery of a covert British Army unit near the massacre site
- [Complaint Against Police Watchdog for Maladministration](https://mcgurksbar.com/complaint-police-watchdog-maladministration/): Families of the McGurk's Bar Massacre have slammed the Information and Police Watchdogs for withholding critical evidence of police and British Army collusion
- [TG4 to Air Ar Lorg Na Fírinne - Game of Truth](https://mcgurksbar.com/tg4-to-air-ar-lorg-na-firinne-game-of-truth/): TG4 is to air the Irish language documentary, Ar Lorg ns Fírinne, featuring a number of compelling stories from the conflict including the McGurk's Bar campaign
- [Families Slam Shameless Watchdogs for Burying Proof of Collusion](https://mcgurksbar.com/massacre-families-slam-information-police-watchdogs/): Families of the McGurk's Bar Massacre have slammed the Information and Police Watchdogs for withholding critical evidence of police and British Army collusion
- [Outrage as Massacre evidence is withheld](https://mcgurksbar.com/outrage-as-massacre-evidence-is-withheld/): Outrage as McGurk’s Bar Massacre evidence is withheld. Families of those killed and injured in Belfast’s most murderous bombing during the conflict have expressed outrage at the latest decision to withhold new evidence relating to the massacre even though the British authorities considered that it would “assist” the families in their continuing campaign for truth. […]
- [ICO Accepts MOD Excuses for "Missing" Massacre Files](https://mcgurksbar.com/ico-accepts-mod-excuses-for-missing-massacre-files/): Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Accepts British Ministry of Defence Excuses for “Missing” Massacre Files The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has accepted the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) excuses for the disappearance of British Army logs covering the hours after the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. “Ghost” copies of the logs proved that previously undisclosed British Army units had […]
- [PSNI-HET Report Was Another Cop Cover-Up](https://mcgurksbar.com/psni-het-report-another-cop-cover-up/): Be in no doubt, the PSNI-HET report into the McGurk’s Bar Massacre was another attempted police cover-up. The families of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre re-issue our simple challenge to the Chief Constable of Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI), Simon Byrne, after a High Court judge ruled that the PSNI/Historical Enquiries Team report into the atrocity […]
- [Ar Lorg Na Fírinne - Game of Truth](https://mcgurksbar.com/ar-lorg-na-firinne-game-of-truth/): The Docs Ireland festival is hosting the international documentary, Game of Truth – Ar Lorg Na Fírinne. Written and directed by acclaimed auteur, Fabienne Lips-Dumas, Game of Truth features families searching for truth (Ar Lorg Na Fírinne) about the death of their loved ones during the conflict in Ireland and Britain. The story of the […]
- [PSNI Incompetence or Collusion: Failure To Quash Irrational Report](https://mcgurksbar.com/psni-incompetence-or-collusion/): The Chief Constable’s failure to quash a PSNI-HET report into the atrocity which the High Court ruled was “irrational” is another insult to our families. I post this hours before a Judicial Review case against the Chief Constable and Police Service Northern Ireland that has lasted seven years – the families demanded that PSNI quashed […]
- [Massacre Orphan to Chief Constable: Quash "Irrational" Report](https://mcgurksbar.com/massacre-orphan-to-chief-constable/): Massacre Orphan Calls On Chief Constable To Quash “Irrational” HET Report Before Court A man whose parents were murdered in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre when he was a child has called on Chief Constable Simon Byrne to quash a failed and “irrational” report into the atrocity before a final court appearance on 16th June 2022. […]
- [PSNI U-Turn on Kitson-RUC Collusion](https://mcgurksbar.com/psni-u-turn-kitson-ruc-collusion/):   Yet another PSNI U-turn should be a warning to families. Following the discovery of new evidence in British military files – and prior to a hearing of a seven-year-long Judicial Review beginning tomorrow – the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) has admitted it is “not aware of holding details of a secret agreement… between […]
- [Chief Constable Snubs Massacre Families and Withholds Evidence](https://mcgurksbar.com/chief-constable-snubs-massacre-families-and-withholds-evidence/):   Press Release: The Chief Constable of Police Service Northern Ireland has yet again snubbed the families of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre and withholds evidence regarding the atrocity. Despite a protest at the Policing Board to mark the 50th anniversary of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre and an official request to meet with him, a police […]
- [ICO Complaints - Kitson, British Army and Cops Collusion](https://mcgurksbar.com/ico-complaints-kitson-british-army-cops-collusion/): The families of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre have lodged three separate complaints with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). All three complaints to the ICO regard police and British Army collusion in the cover-up of the atrocity and one man at the centre – General Sir Frank Kitson. One complaint is against the British Army; One […]
- [Office of the Police Ombudsman Withholding Police Collusion Evidence](https://mcgurksbar.com/office-police-ombudsman-withholding-police-collusion-evidence/): The Office of the Police Ombudsman has admitted that it is withholding evidence from our families. The evidence regards proof of collusion between General Sir Frank Kitson (retired) and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the provenance of RUC lies – but the Office of the Police Ombudsman withheld this evidence from its 2011 report […]
- [Doug Beattie and UUP Silent on McGurk's Bar Cover-Up](https://mcgurksbar.com/doug-beattie-uup-silent-mcgurks-bar-cover-up/): Doug Beattie and the Ulster Unionist Party remain silent on the McGurk’s Bar cover-up. Commemoration is difficult and we have a year of difficult 50th-anniversary commemorations ahead for thousands of families this year. Many organisations and people, including former combatants have much to consider too – be they people who served in uniform or otherwise. […]
- [Donaldson Commemoration Edited Version Not Full Context](https://mcgurksbar.com/donaldson-commemoration-edited-version/): Response to a letter by Kenny Donaldson, spokesperson for Innocent Victims United. Kenny Donaldson wrote letters to the local newspapers recently, including the Irish News, which recounted the horror of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre and its victims (Vital to encourage thinking that expresses regret for every death, 31 January 2022). In the Irish News copy, […]
- [Infamous MRF Shooter Escapes Justice](https://mcgurksbar.com/infamous-mrf-shooter-escapes-justice/): The infamous British Army MRF shooter, Clive Graham Williams, is dead. Clive Graham Williams, or Taff, as he was known to his gang members, was the prime shooter wanted in connection to a number of murders and attempted murders of civilians in Belfast in 1972. The charity Paper Trail connected him to at least 6 serious […]
- [BBC Response Welcomed](https://mcgurksbar.com/bbc-response-welcomed/): Many thanks to the BBC for taking the time to consider our concerns and respond. It’s much appreciated by the families. “Editorial Complaint – BBC Northern Ireland I’m replying to your follow-up enquiry about contacts with the Belfast newsroom. The email address for press releases is bbcnewsni@bbc.co.uk. However, because around 30% of our staff are […]
- [The Guardian of McGurk's Bar Massacre Lies](https://mcgurksbar.com/guardian-of-mcgurks-bar-massacre-lies/): 50 years ago today, on Christmas Eve 1971, the Guardian newspaper published a heinous piece of disinformation about the victims of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. Less than 3 weeks after the Loyalist explosion at McGurk’s Bar, which claimed the lives of 15 civilians, including 2 children, the Guardian newspaper published this in its throw-away Miscellany […]
- [Chief Constable: Prove Police Lies Or Admit Fabrication](https://mcgurksbar.com/chief-constable-prove-police-lies-admit-fabrication/): 50 years ago today, the police Chief Constable and Head of Special Branch lied directly to the government about the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. On 16th December 1971, Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Chief Constable Graham Shillington and Assistant Chief Constable David Johnston, the Head of RUC Special Branch, attended a Joint Security Committee Meeting at Stormont, […]
- [MOD Denies It Holds Kitson-RUC Evidence](https://mcgurksbar.com/mod-denies-it-holds-kitson-ruc-evidence/): The British Ministry of Defence (MOD) has denied it holds information relating to a secret agreement between General Sir Frank Kitson and the Royal Ulster Constabulary to promote lies about the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. The MOD denial is despite a record of it in the British Army’s Commander’s Diary just hours after the explosion. A […]
- [BBC Blackout on 50th Anniversary of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre?](https://mcgurksbar.com/bbc-blackout-on-50th-anniversary-of-the-mcgurks-bar-massacre/): Family campaigners on legacy cases in the north of Ireland learn not to be precious about BBC media coverage, especially when the British state is involved in the murders and subsequent cover-ups. On any other occasion, there are many reasons why a media outlet will not cover a story. In the fast-moving environment of the […]
- [Black Propaganda and the Northern Ireland Prime Minister](https://mcgurksbar.com/black-propaganda-prime-minister/): Two days after the McGurk’s Bar Massacre, the Northern Ireland Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner, flew to meet with Reginald Maudling, British Home Secretary, for crunch talks on security. The notes of the meeting, discovered by Pat Finucane Centre at Kew National Archives, show in stark terms how the cover-up went right to the top of […]
- [Chief Constable Leaves McGurk’s Bar Families ‘Out in the Cold’](https://mcgurksbar.com/chief-constable-snub/): The families of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre are gravely disappointed that Chief Constable Simon Byrne chose not to meet them at the Policing Board (Thursday 2nd December). The families were there two days before the 50th anniversary of the atrocity to protest the Police Service Northern Ireland’s withholding of evidence relating to collusion between the […]
- [Policing Board Protest Before 50th Anniversary of the Atrocity](https://mcgurksbar.com/policing-board-protest/): Families of the 15 civilians murdered in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre are protesting the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Thursday 2nd December, two days before the 50th anniversary of the atrocity. The families are protesting the Police Service Northern Ireland’s withholding of evidence relating to collusion between the Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army in […]
- [Fusiliers Intelligence at Odds with McGurk’s Bar Lies](https://mcgurksbar.com/fusilier-intelligence-at-odds-with-mcgurks-bar-lies/): New evidence from secret British military archives proves that the Fusiliers regiment which helped dig for survivors in the rubble of McGurk’s Bar, reported intelligence within minutes of the explosion to its Headquarters at odds with the subsequent lies spun by the British armed forces. At 2128 hours (9:28pm), around 42 minutes after the Ulster […]
- [Cabinet Office Complaint To Parliamentary Ombudsman](https://mcgurksbar.com/cabinet-office-complaint-to-parliamentary-ombudsman/): The McGurk’s Bar Massacre families have been forced to make a complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman against the British Cabinet Office just days before the 50th anniversary of the atrocity. As far as the families are aware, this is the first complaint of its kind to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman […]
- [GOC Tuzo's Christmas Message and McGurk's Bar](https://mcgurksbar.com/christmas-message-tuzo-mcgurks-bar/): What did the head of the British Army in the north, Harry Tuzo, know about the McGurk’s Bar Massacre? Lieutenant General Sir Harry Tuzo was General Officer Commanding (GOC) the British Army at the time of the atrocity, having begun his distinguished military career before World War 2. This is what we know he knew […]
- [New Website - New Evidence to Come - 50th Anniversary](https://mcgurksbar.com/new-website-new-evidence-to-come-50th-anniversary/): The families of McGurk Bar Massacre have launched this new website in time for the 50th anniversary of the atrocity. The new website commemorates the fifteen civilians murdered in the no-warning Loyalist attack on McGurk’s Bar, those who survived, and their families who have waged a tireless Campaign for Truth over half a century. In […]
- [McGurk's Bar Families Protest the Office of the Police Ombudsman](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-families-protest-the-office-of-the-police-ombudsman/): Families of those killed and injured in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre protested the Office of the Police Ombudsman (OPONI) on 18th August 2021. The McGurk’s Bar families protested to highlight Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson’s: Failure to complete a timely and effective investigation of the families’ complaint against currently serving police officers of the Police Service […]
- [MoD Withholding Evidence of British Army Witness](https://mcgurksbar.com/mod-withholding-evidence-of-british-army-witness/): Press Release: The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) is withholding evidence of a British Army witness on the night of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been forced to admit that it does indeed know the name and rank of a British soldier involved in a covert British military “ambush” […]
- [Never the Same](https://mcgurksbar.com/never-the-same/): Artist Sinéad O’Neill-Nicholl will be talking about her new project, Never the Same, during Imagine! Belfast Festival. Never the Same is a project that Sinéad is developing with the families of those who were killed and injured in the McGurk’s Bar bombing of 4th December 1971. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the atrocity, […]
- [Legal Proceedings against the Office of the Police Ombudsman](https://mcgurksbar.com/legal-proceedings-against-the-office-of-the-police-ombudsman/): Pree Release: McGurk’s Bar families begin legal proceedings against the Office of the Police Ombudsman. Families of those killed and injured in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre have been forced to initiate legal proceedings against the Office of the Police Ombudsman for its: (1) Failure to complete a 2015 complaint regarding serious allegations against present policing […]
- [MoD Withholding Evidence of Covert British Army Operation](https://mcgurksbar.com/mod-withholding-evidence-of-covert-british-army-operation/): The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) is withholding critical evidence regarding a covert British Military operation in the vicinity of McGurk’s Bar. The MoD has failed to provide any further information relating to the discovery of a covert British Military operation close to McGurk’s Bar on the night of the explosion which claimed the lives […]
- [McGurk’s Bar: Request for Immediate Investigation by British Cabinet Secretary](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-investigation-cabinet-secretary/): Families of the McGurk’s Bar victims have raised a complaint and requested an immediate investigation by British Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case. The families have uncovered a high-level, coordinated and sustained Security Force and Civil Service plot to deceive the two Parliaments of Britain and Northern Ireland about the true circumstances of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre […]
- [McGurk’s Bar Families Challenge Chief Constable to Prove IRA Lies](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-families-challenge-chief-constable-to-prove-ira-lies/): The families of the 15 victims killed in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre have challenged Chief Constable Simon Byrne to prove police lies in an RUC Special Branch briefing to Stormont officials. Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Chief Constable Graham Shillington and Assistant Chief Constable David Johnston, the Head of RUC Special Branch briefed the Northern Ireland […]
- [Post-Script: Massacre Families Launch Report with New Evidence](https://mcgurksbar.com/post-script-massacre-families-launch-report-new-evidence/): The campaigning McGurk’s Bar families are launching a report on Thursday (8th October 2020) called The McGurk’s Bar Bombing: Post-Script. Post-Script features new evidence discovered by family researcher Ciaran MacAirt – new evidence either missed or buried by historical investigations of the Office of the Police Ombudsman and Police Service Northern Ireland. What: NEW Report: […]
- [Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, Glenanne and McGurk's](https://mcgurksbar.com/garda-commissioner-drew-harris-glenanne-and-mcgurks/): There has been renewed – or belated – interest in the appointment of Garda Commissioner Drew Harris following the RTÉ airing of Unquiet Graves. Unquiet Graves tells the story of the Glenanne Gang and investigates the role of the British state and its Armed Forces in the killing of 120 Irish Catholic civilians during the […]
- ['Missing" British Ministry of Defence File Surrenders its Dirty Secret](https://mcgurksbar.com/missing-british-ministry-of-defence-file-surrenders-its-dirty-secret/): Press Release: A ‘missing’ British Army log sheet has surrendered its dirty secret nearly half a century later. The imprint of a British military log covering the aftermath of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre, which the British of Ministry of Defence says is missing, has surrendered its dirty secret more than 48 years later – the […]
- [British Ministry of Defence Withholds McGurk's Bar Massacre Evidence](https://mcgurksbar.com/british-ministry-of-defence-withholds-mcgurks-bar-massacre-evidence/): Nearly half a century after the McGurk’s Bar Massacre, the British Ministry of Defence is still withholding evidence. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) is still hiding potentially critical evidence relating to the McGurk’s Bar Massacre and its cover-up by the British state. This is despite the fact that the atrocity occurred in 1971 and […]
- [McGurk's Bar: British Army Buried Witness Testimony of Suspect Car](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-british-army-buried-witness-testimony-of-suspect-car/): Secret British Army archives have revealed new witness testimony of the suspect car used in the McGurk’s Bar bombing. This is the first time that the victims’ families have been told that a witness gave critical evidence of the suspect car to a British Army officer at the scene of the attack the following morning. […]
- [Covert British Army Operation Discovered in Vicinity of McGurk's Bar](https://mcgurksbar.com/covert-british-army-operation-discovered-in-vicinity-of-mcgurks-bar/): Press Release: A grandson of two of the McGurk’s Bar victims has discovered a previously undisclosed covert British Army operation in the vicinity of McGurk’s Bar on the night of the atrocity. Author, Ciarán MacAirt, discovered a covert British Army “ambush OP” [ambush observation post] in York Street which intersected the target area and escape […]
- [How the British Army and Police Lied to British Government About McGurk’s Bar](https://mcgurksbar.com/british-army-police-lied-to-british-government/): Newly uncovered British Ministry of Defence files prove how the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) lied to British government ministers and Number 10 about the McGurk’s Bar bombing days after the massacre. 15 civilians were killed including 2 children in the McGurk’s Bar attack on 4th December 1971 – at the time, […]
- [McGurk's Bar: Judicial Review Against Chief Constable George Hamilton](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-judicial-review-against-chief-constable/): McGurk’s Bar families launch a Judicial Review against Chief Constable George Hamilton. The McGurk’s Bar families have begun Judicial Review proceedings against Chief Constable George Hamilton for his failure to order an independent investigation into the atrocity including the questioning of General Sir Frank Kitson, former Commander-in-Chief UK Land Forces. Kitson was Brigadier in charge […]
- [General Sir Frank Kitson Implicated in McGurk's Bar Cover-Up](https://mcgurksbar.com/frank-kitson-implicated-in-mcgurks-bar/): Archive discovery implicates British General Frank Kitson in McGurk’s Bar Bombing cover-up: families demand immediate arrest and questioning. The McGurk’s Bar families have demanded that an independent police force immediately question British General Sir Frank Kitson under caution following the discovery of a secret British Army Log, which they believe proves that Kitson colluded with […]
- [The Gem Bar - Targeted by the British Army](https://mcgurksbar.com/gem-bar-targeted-by-the-british-army/): The British Army raided and searched the Gem Bar, the original target of the McGurk’s Bar bombers, two nights before the massacre. Secret British Army archives record that its soldiers screened 20 customers of the Gem Bar and sent 6 to Girdwood Barracks for questioning. The Gem Bar was suspected by the British Army of […]
- [Where Was the British Army’s Death Squad on the Night of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre?](https://mcgurksbar.com/british-army-death-squad-and-mcgurks-bar/): Secret files prove that Britain’s death squad, the Military Reaction Force (MRF), was operating in the streets around McGurk’s Bar. Newly discovered archives prove that the British Army’s shadowy Military Reaction Force (MRF) was deployed in North Belfast at the time of the McGurk’s Bar bombing. The families have long since questioned where the MRF […]
- [Ned Keenan by John Campbell](https://mcgurksbar.com/ned-keenan-by-john-campbell/): Ned Keenan Ned Keenan by John Campbell   Whenever I lift an orange, Ned Keenan comes to mind. He could judge their sweetness, Just by stripping off the rind. ‘A sour one won’t peel easy,’ He told me with a smile, In the days he bossed the orange boats, And we helped him stack the […]
- [Kinnear & Co. Solicitors: New Documents Confirm Police Spread Deliberate Disinformation](https://mcgurksbar.com/kinnear-mcgurks-bar/): Kinnear & Co. Solicitors: New Documents Confirm Police Spread Deliberate Disinformation about McGurk’s Bar Bombing Kinnear & Co. Solicitors act for a number of the families who lost loved ones in the December 1971 bombing of McGurk’s Bar, in which 15 people, including two children, were murdered and many more badly injured. Researcher Ciarán MacAirt, […]
- [Police Created and Spread McGurk's Bar Lies](https://mcgurksbar.com/police-created-mcgurks-bar-lies/): Critical archive find puts police in the frame for McGurk’s Bar lies. A shocking British military archive discovered by a grandson of victims of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre proves that the Royal Ulster Constabulary police force originated and disseminated the lie that the atrocity was an “IRA own-goal” just over 4 hours after the bombing. […]
- [McGurk's Bar Families Take Judicial Review Against Attorney General](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-judicial-review-attorney-general/): McGurk’s Bar relatives have issued a Judicial Review challenge against the Attorney General regarding his decision not to order a fresh inquest into the massacre. Kinnear & Co. Solicitors can confirm that yesterday, Mr Terence Keenan, has lodged papers in the High Court in Belfast, initiating proceedings against the Attorney General, regarding his recent decision […]
- [International Day for the Right to the Truth](https://mcgurksbar.com/day-for-the-right-to-the-truth/): Protests and commemorations on the International Day for the Right to the Truth. The Time for Truth Committee, made up of a group of victims’ families from some of the key legacy campaigns, is organising a series of protests across the country between 2pm – 3pm on Saturday 24th March to remember victims of the conflict […]
- [Time For Truth Committee: Thank You](https://mcgurksbar.com/time-for-truth-thank-you/): Thank you from the Time for Truth Committee. The families who organised the Time for Truth March in Belfast on February 25 would like to thank the thousands of people who marched with us demanding truth and those who sent messages of support, such as highly respected human rights barrister, Mike Mansfield. We would particularly like […]
- [Time For Truth - McGurk's Bar](https://mcgurksbar.com/time-for-truth-mcgurks/): McGurk’s Bar families were proud to walk  shoulder-to-shoulder with friends and families – Time For Truth! McGurk’s Bar activist, Ciarán MacAirt, addressed the Time For Truth March on Sunday 25th February 2018. My name is Ciarán MacAirt and I am the grandson of John and Kathleen Irvine. Kathleen was one of 15 innocent civilians murdered […]
- [Time For Truth March](https://mcgurksbar.com/time-for-truth-march/): Family campaign groups are calling on you to join them on the Time for Truth march, on Sunday 25th February to Belfast city hall.  McGurk’s Bar, Loughinisland, Ballymurphy, Springhill, New Lodge 6, and Kelly’s Bar families have joined together to launch news of the march, Time For Truth. John Kelly from the ‘Bloody Sunday’ campaign will […]
- [Time For Truth - Walk With Us](https://mcgurksbar.com/time-for-truth/): My name is Ciarán MacAirt. This is my story. Now is the Time for Truth. On the 4th of December 1971 my grandmother, Kitty Irvine, was murdered in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre.   A bomb exploded in McGurk’s Bar in the New Lodge, killing fifteen civilians. Two of the dead were children as the McGurk family […]
- [The McGurk's Bar Massacre and the Role of British Agents](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-role-of-british-agents/): McGurk’s Bar Families hear for the first time that a high-level British agent gave intelligence about the atrocity to his police handlers.  Yesterday – and only in open court – victims and survivors of the McGurk’s Bar atrocity learned that British agent and Ulster Volunteer Force commander, Gary Haggarty, gave information to his police handlers […]
- [Behind the Mask and the McGurk's Bar Massacre](https://mcgurksbar.com/behind-the-mask-mcgurks-bar-massacre/): As a life-long researcher of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre which claimed the life of my grandmother and 14 other civilians including two children, I am on an eternal hunt of archives and texts for information. This search brought me to Dr. Aaron Edwards’ new book, UVF: Behind the Mask, which turned out to be quite […]
- [McGurk's Bar Families Meet With Fianna Fáil Justice and Equality Spokesperson](https://mcgurksbar.com/fianna-fail-justice-equality/): Fianna Fáil Justice and Equality Spokesperson, Jim O Callaghan TD, met members of the McGurk’s Bar families in Leinster House.  After the meeting with the Justice and Equality Spokesperson yesterday (Monday 20th March 2017), Robert Mc Clenaghan said: Today’s meeting was important for us to present our case for a fresh Inquest to Fianna Fáil front […]
- [Britain Lied to the European Commission about the McGurk's Bar Massacre](https://mcgurksbar.com/european-commission-mcgurks-bar/): As late as 1976, the British state and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) lied to the Irish Government and European Commission on Human Rights about the McGurk’s Bar Massacre, and claimed that the explosion was the result of “an IRA bomb which had exploded prematurely whilst in transit to its intended target… a hotel nearby”. Margaret […]
- [A Gram of Publicity in England is Worth a Tonne in Ireland](https://mcgurksbar.com/gram-publicity-england-worth-tonne-ireland/): A gram of publicity in England is worth a tonne in Ireland – letter in the Irish News by Gerard Herdman The dogged campaign for truth by families of the McGurk’s Bar victims has highlighted a sickening aspect of the English state’s war against the IRA. Disinformation designed to weaken support for the republican movement […]
- [Families Appeal to NI SoS for Release of Collusion File](https://mcgurksbar.com/appeal-for-release-of-collusion-file/): The campaigning families of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre victims appeal to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, to release a 45-year-old British file containing evidence of collusion in the atrocity between British security forces and Loyalist paramilitaries. Ciarán MacAirt, a grandson of one of the victims of the massacre, which claimed the lives of […]
- [McGurk's Bar Families Give New Evidence to the Police Ombudsman](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-new-evidence-police-ombudsman/): Relatives of the McGurk’s Bar bombing victims have told the Police Ombudsman that documents they have obtained contain evidence of security force collusion in the attack. Family members of some of the 15 people killed in the 1971 loyalist blast in Belfast met with representatives of the Police Ombudsman’s office to press for a new investigation. […]
- [#McGurks Bar Families Petition Policing Board before Atrocity’s 45th Anniversary](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-families-petition-policing-board/): Families of the victims of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre will attend the Policing Board this Thursday 1st December at 2pm to petition political representatives and independent Board members for support in their on-going court battles against the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Chief Constable. The following day, a long-running Judicial Review hearing will […]
- [Challenge to Chief Constable George Hamilton](https://mcgurksbar.com/families-challenge-chief-constable/): Families who lost loved ones in the McGurk’s Bar atrocity have challenged PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton and his so-called Legacy Investigation Branch to attend a lecture by world-renowned human rights lawyer, Michael Mansfield, commemorating the 45th anniversary of the attack. Billed as a Case-Study in Disinformation, Denial and Delay, the memorial lecture is free […]
- [Victim’s Grandson Calls Out Top Cop over McGurk’s Bar Cover-Up](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-police-cover-up/): A grandson of one of the fifteen civilians murdered in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre has demanded that the Chief Constable of the Police Service Northern Ireland do his job and quash a Historical Enquiries Team report on the atrocity before the 45th anniversary of the attack. The demand follows the grandson’s discovery of a ground-breaking […]
- [Bomb Expert Informed Army HQ that McGurk’s Bar Was Attacked](https://mcgurksbar.com/bomb-expert-mcgurks-bar-attacked/): Press Release: The discovery of a secret British military file proves that a British Army bomb expert and witness at the scene of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre informed British Army Headquarters that the bar was attacked. Subsequent RUC and British Army reports blamed the innocent civilians in the bar. Author, Ciarán MacAirt, a grandson of […]
- [I Am Belfast](https://mcgurksbar.com/i-am-belfast/): This Sunday, QFT hosts the film, I Am Belfast, Mark Cousins’ love letter to his hometown. Mark abandoned the city because of its bigotry and violence, but this is his return home. His deep love of Belfast sweeps us from cityscape to dreamscape and back again as if carried effortlessly on the tide. From salt […]
- [Running for Justice and Just Giving](https://mcgurksbar.com/running-for-justice-just-giving/): The team at Pádraig Ó Muirigh’s Solicitor firm aren’t content with fighting for justice. They also run for it as well. The team are training hard in preparation for St Patrick’s Day and the Spar Craic 10k run. The long haul starts at City Hall, linking west and east Belfast, while taking in the Cathedral Quarter […]
- [5 Years Later: McGurk’s Bar Families Still in Court Fighting Irrational Police Probe](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-families-fight-irrational-police-probe/): The McGurk’s Bar families are in High Court on Friday (29th January 2016) against the Chief Constable of the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) seeking a Judicial Review of an irrational report by the police’s Historical Enquiries Team (HET). It will be 5 years ago next month that the former Chief Constable of the Police […]
- [The Chief Constable's #Fail](https://mcgurksbar.com/the-chief-constables-fail/): The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland ran a #AskChiefCon feed on Twitter which was a #Fail for #McGurks families. The Chief Constable, George Hamilton, last night invited tweeters to ask him a question using the hashtag #AskChiefCon (see feed). There was some serious questions and much mirth which fulfills the folksy, accessible PR […]
- [Police Shut Down McGurk’s Bar Families Requests for Information](https://mcgurksbar.com/police-shut-down-mcgurks-bar-families/): In what has been described as a “sinister attack on the freedom of information and personal attack on me by the Police Service of Northern Ireland”, a McGurk’s Bar family member has described how the police have closed down every single one of his requests for information in one refusal.   Ciarán MacAirt is the […]
- [Britain's National Security? No. Britain's National Shame](https://mcgurksbar.com/britains-national-security-no-britains-national-shame/): Families of those murdered in the McGurk’s Bar atrocity travelled to London this week to mark the 44th anniversary of the attack and to lobby for the release of archives which relate to the attack but which have been closed to them because of what the authorities deem to be “national security”. 15 innocent men women and […]
- [The Ticking Clock Dilemma](https://mcgurksbar.com/the-ticking-clock-dilemma/): McGurk’s Bar activist, Robert McClenaghan, writes a very personal blog on the reality of Britain’s inability to face up to its human rights abuses, and how this now becomes his own ticking clock dilemma. I was with other family members in west Belfast to hear about the current situation with the Stormont House Agreement and how […]
- [MI5 McGurk's Bar Disinformation](https://mcgurksbar.com/mi5-mcgurks-bar-disinformation/): Headquarter Northern Ireland Intelligence Summaries (HQNI INTSUMs) were prepared in Lisburn Headquarters by a team under the Director of Intelligence, a senior officer of the British Security Service, also known as MI5. For his role in the north of Ireland in 1971 “David” (as he was code-named  during the Bloody Sunday Inquiry) assumed the equivalent military […]
- [Delay and Obfuscation: Families Demand Quashing of HET Report](https://mcgurksbar.com/delay-obfuscation-families-demand-quashing-of-het-report/): Families of those killed in the McGurk’s Bar atrocity on 4th December 1971 are disgusted that the Police Service of Northern Ireland continue to delay their campaign for truth and justice. They demand that the Chief Constable quashes a report by the failed Historical Enquiries Team. 15 innocent men, women and children were killed in […]
- [NvTv Focal Point: McGurk's Bar](https://mcgurksbar.com/nvtv-focal-point-mcgurks-bar/): Northern Visions Television (NVTV) interviewed McGurk’s Bar families outside the High Court after our historic win against dirty cops, past and present. Well done to the families and legal representatives. Thank you as always to NvTv. Focal Point Friday 25 September 2015 from Northern Visions NvTv on Vimeo.
- [A Question of BBC Bias, Lazy Reporting or Simple Oversight?](https://mcgurksbar.com/a-question-of-bbc-bias-lazy-reporting-or-simple-oversight/): British reporting at the time of the McGurk’s Bar bombing was at best lazy or at worst downright biased. We still have to take the media to task. Here is an open comment/complaint to the BBC regarding its report into police bias and our families today. We await its response. Dear Sir/Madam, In the linked […]
- [Families welcome McGurk's Bar Investigative Bias Decision](https://mcgurksbar.com/families-welcome-mcgurks-bar-investigative-bias-decision/): Responding to today’s admission by PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton that there was indeed an “INVESTIGATIVE BIAS” during the McGurk’s Bar investigation, Robert Mc Clenaghan on behalf of the Mc Gurks Bar Memorial Committee said: “Four years ago in February 2011, the Police Ombudsman, Al Hutchinson found an investigative bias on the part of the […]
- [Chief Constable Promises "Substantive Developments" in McGurk's Bar Case](https://mcgurksbar.com/chief-constable-promises-substantive-developments-in-mcgurks-bar-case/): The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has promised “substantive developments”in the McGurk’s Bar case sitting in the High Court tomorrow (25th September 2015). It is a High Court case which the so-called police service forced our families to take in order to quash the ludicrous FOURTH report by the police’s Historical […]
- [Great Support from the Other Side of the World](https://mcgurksbar.com/great-support-from-the-other-side-of-the-world/): Many thanks to Clan MacCumascaigh in Melbourne who posted this picture and a very simple question to Chief Constable George Hamilton:   What say Ye @Chiefconpsni @policeserviceni Any chance of changing habits being truthful #JustSaying @ciaranmacairt pic.twitter.com/aymTe2VDrT — MícheálMacCumascaigh (@demicker) September 17, 2015 Different @ChiefConPSNI, same old lies. GLOBAL support from #ClanMacCumascaigh #McGurks https://t.co/2LQF4jNF12 pic.twitter.com/wO94vwRIf1 […]
- [Baron Kilclooney: Patsy or Liar?](https://mcgurksbar.com/baron-kilclooney-patsy-or-liar/): Baron Kilclooney, or John Taylor to you and me, helped promulgate the McGurk’s Bar propaganda before we had even buried our loved ones. Whether he knowingly deceived the public or he too was duped by the RUC is moot. One thing is certain: he has not apologised for his deceit. The forensic report was only completed […]
- [In the News: Meeting with the Chief Con](https://mcgurksbar.com/in-the-news-meeting-with-the-chief-con/): The Irish News has a report on our expected meeting with Chief Constable George Hamilton.   We will look forward to meeting A.S.A.P. RT “@ConnlaYoung: #McGurks Bar relatives call for @ChiefConPSNI meeting http://t.co/NCm6JOKF9x“ — Ciarán MacAirt (@ciaranmacairt) August 12, 2015 This followed the interrogation of the Chief Constable by family campaigner, Robert McClenaghan, which you […]
- [Facing the Questions of the Past](https://mcgurksbar.com/facing-the-questions-of-the-past/): Families of those murdered in the 1971 McGurk’s Bar bombing are to ask the PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton for a meeting following the debate held in St Mary’s College on Thursday 6th August, as part of Féile an Phobail. Robert Mc Clenaghan who spoke at the packed public meeting said: “It is very important […]
- [McGurk's Bar and Media Disinformation - The Newsletter](https://mcgurksbar.com/mcgurks-bar-and-media-disinformation-the-newsletter/): On Monday 6th December, less than 48 hours after the McGurk’s Bar Massacre, the Newsletter published disinformation from the RUC. What is more sinister about this is that the present day investigations by the likes of the failed Historical Enquiries Team tried to say that there was no proof  that the Royal Ulster Constabulary had […]

## Pages

- [Books](https://mcgurksbar.com/books/): BOOKS Books Below are books and publications by author, Ciarán MacAirt. He is the grandson of two of the McGurk’s Bar victims, John and Kathleen Irvine. Kathleen was one of the fifteen civilians murdered, and John badly injured. Ciarán is also founder and manager of the charity, Paper Trail, which supports victims and survivors of […]
- [Echoes](https://mcgurksbar.com/echoes/): ECHOES Echoes An award-winning local artist is working with the McGurk’s Bar families to record Echoes at the memorial site. Artist Sinéad O’Neill-Nicholl is recording the lived experiences of our families for a project called Never the Same, an innovative sound installation at the very site of the explosion in North Queen Street, Belfast. The […]
- [Film](https://mcgurksbar.com/film/): FILM FILM Commemorating the McGurk’s Bar Massacre on film. From newsreel to the big screen, the McGurk’s Bar Massacre and our Campaign for Truth are memorialized on film. You can watch just some of these documentaries and videos below. Make sure you leave your name and email, and you can watch our future work as […]
- [Blog](https://mcgurksbar.com/blog/): BLOG The McGurk’s Bar Blog Featuring new archive releases and significant new evidence, read the latest McGurk’s Bar blog below. Many of these articles featured in the news, so make sure you hear it here first by subscribing to the McGurk’s Bar blog with your name and email –  is totally free and you can […]
- [Research](https://mcgurksbar.com/research/): RESEARCH Research and Legacy Archives Below are just some of the critical archives discovered and released, not by the British authorities, but by our families and human rights organisations working with us on our research. Without our extensive research, these documents would never have been accessed or published. The so-called historic investigations failed as miserably […]
- [Victims](https://mcgurksbar.com/victims/): VICTIMS The Victims. 15 civilians were murdered in the McGurk’s Bar Massacre and two of these victims were children. Many more were injured and lucky to escape with their lives. On that crisp winter’s evening, Johnny and Kathleen Irvine said goodbye to their children and walked the short distance to the bar they visited for […]
- [Massacre](https://mcgurksbar.com/massacre/): MASSACRE MASSACRE At that juncture in the history of the rotten Orange state, the McGurk’s Bar Massacre was the greatest loss of civilian life in any single murderous attack since the Nazi Blitz of Belfast. In the early evening of Saturday 4th December 1971, Loyalist extremists from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) planted a no-warning […]
- [Campaign](https://mcgurksbar.com/campaign/): Campaign​ The McGurk’s Bar Massacre Campaign Campaign for Truth The moment the bomb exploded, our Campaign for Truth began. Within hours of the explosion, the British armed forces briefed journalists that the massacre was the result of a Republican “own-goal” Nevertheless, we discovered secret British archives which proved that the British Army and Royal Ulster […]
- [Home](https://mcgurksbar.com/): McGURK’S BAR Before we buried our loved ones, the British state buried the truth McGurk’s Bar: Campaign for Truth This is a family campaign dedicated to the memory of the innocent victims of the McGurk’s Bar Massacre of 4th December 1971. For over two generations our families have fought for little but the truth, justice, […]


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