Dublin-Monaghan bloodbath 50 years on: What led up to UVF slaughter and how did events unfold?

Though the Omagh bomb of 1998 (with 31 fatalities) remains the worst single device, the co-ordinated four-bomb atrocity of Dublin/Monaghan remains the worst overall attack.

From 1969 to the start of 1974, there had been 948 killings in total.

Of these, 515 were by republicans, 228 by loyalists, and 180 by the security forces.

There had been some foreshocks of the 1974 atrocities in terms of loyalists targeting the Irish capital.

In January 1971 the UVF had blown up the tomb of long-dead Catholic rights campaigner Daniel O'Connell at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin (fortunately killing no-one).

On December 1, 1972, two bus conductors – George Bradshaw (30) and Thomas Duff (23) – were killed in a double car bombing in Dublin. It was not clear who planted the bombs, though the book Lost Lives says "reliable loyalist sources" said the UVF was responsible.

Fifty days later another man – bus driver Thomas Douglas (25) – was fatally wounded in another bomb in central Dublin. Again, Lost Lives says "reliable loyalist sources [said] theUVF was behind the bombing".

The Ulster Workers' Council strike in protest against the Sunningdale Agreement began on May 15, 1974.

Here is how online Troubes archive CAIN describes day one of the strike: “The initial response to the strike was poor with many workers going to work. However, following meetings held at a number of workplaces, people began to leave work during lunch-time and early afternoon.

"By the end of the day the port of Larne, Co Antrim, was effectively sealed off. A number of roads had been blocked by hijacked vehicles. Some buses were hijacked in Belfast. Electricity supplies were also disrupted with rotating four-hourly power cuts occurring across the region.”

Day two of the strike went like this: “The use of intimidation (or 'persuasion' as the loyalist paramilitaries preferred to call it) had a significant impact on the number of people who managed to get to work.

"The strike began to have a number of effects on the farming sector with uncollected, or unprocessed, milk having to be dumped and fresh food not reaching shops… The Ulster Workers' Council also ordered public houses to close. There was an outbreak of sectarian rioting.”

Then on the third day of the strike, at around 5.30pm, the Dublin/Monaghan bloodbath began.

Car bombs went off more-or-less at the same time in Parnell Street, Talbot Street, and South Leinster Street, killing 28 people.

Then 90 minutes later a car bomb exploded in North Road, Monaghan, killing seven people.

The oldest of the 35 dead (besides unborn children) was John Dargle (80), and the youngest was Anne Marie O'Brien (four years old).

The online Troubles archive CAIN says that a press officer for the Ulster Workers' Council remarked: "I am very happy about the bombings in Dublin. There is a war with the Free State and now we are laughing at them."

On July 15, 1993, and in response to claims that the security forces had a hand in the Dublin/Monaghan bombing, the UVF issued a statement taking sole responsibility.

The group said "it would have been unnecessary and indeed undesirable to compromise our volunteers anonimity [sic] by using clandestine security force personnel".

The statement said the bombing took "a fair degree of preparation and not a little courage," but "did not... require a great deal of technical expertise".

It concluded: "To suggest that the UVF were not, or are not, capable of operating in the manner outlined... is tempting fate to a dangerous degree."