Charles Breslin
Charles Breslin ((Irish Óglach Cathal Ó Breasláin, born September 5 1964 – February 23 1985), was an IRA Volunteer from Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.[1]]].[2]
Background
Breslin was from the "Head of the Town" area in Strabane, close to the border with County Donegal. At the age of 15 Breslin, who had a an easy going disposition, became an avid reader of Irish history and politics and joined Na Fianna Éireann, a republican scouting movement.
Paramilitary career
On February 23 1985, Breslin, Michael Devine (22) and David Devine (17), all Catholic Volunteers within the Provisional Irish Republican Army, were shot dead by undercover British Army members (Special Air Service), while returning arms to a dump, in a field, off Plumbridge Road, Strabane.[3]
The undercover soldiers were aware of the arms dump after being tipped off by an informer.
Shoot-to-Kill policy
The families, many in the local community and across Ireland, believed these, and other deaths, were part of a wider British government "shoot-to-kill" policy, where Irish republican paramilitaries were summarily executed without any attempt at arrest. Substantial damages were awarded to the families by the Ministry of Defence on 7 May 2002, as part of a Belfast High Court settlement.[4][5]
Remembered in song
The events of the shooting also remember in a song called British Justice (Shoot To Kill Policy).
References
- ^ Speech by Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin, at a Commemoration for IRA Volunteers Michael Devine, David Devine, and Charles Breslin, Strabane, (20 February 2005)
- ^ CAIN Indew of deaths
- ^ Northern Ireland Forum for Political Debate
- ^ The Impartial Reporter
- ^ Families awarded money over SAS shootings
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