Martin Doherty - Death

Death

On 21 May 1994 an event was organised by Sinn Féin's Prisoner of War Department to raise funds for the families of IRA prisoners at the Widow Scallans pub in Dublin's Pearse Street. Doherty was working as a doorman at the pub, and became suspicious of two men attempting to enter the pub carrying a holdall at 11 pm. Doherty challenged the men in order to prevent them entering the pub, was shot three times and died later in hospital. Another doorman, Paddy Burke, was seriously injured when he was shot in the throat through the door of the pub after he closed it to prevent the gunmen entering. The gunmen left the scene in a car driven by a third man, leaving behind the holdall which contained an 18 lb bomb. The bomb's detonator exploded as people attended to Doherty and the other injured doorman, but the main explosives failed to ignite. The Gardaí stated a massacre had been avoided due to the bomb failing to explode properly.

The attempted bombing was the first in Dublin since the 1970s, and Doherty was the first person killed in the Republic of Ireland by the UVF since November 1975. The UVF issued a statement claiming responsibility for the shootings and attempted bombing, saying they had "struck at the very heart of the republican movement in its own back yard" and that "the UVF would warn the IRA and the Dublin government that the Ulster people will neither be coerced nor persuaded and will remain masters of their own destiny". Fred Cobain of the Ulster Unionist Party remarked "It was only a matter of time before loyalists went south. Dublin is having an increasing say in the affairs of Northern Ireland. The way to reverse that trend is to indulge in the same tactics as the IRA and to attack targets in the South. This may be a sign of things to come".