2012 Timeline of Political and Paramilitary Developments in the North of Ireland

Timeline of Recent Unrest, Sectarianism, Paramilitary Activity and Developments in the Peace Process

Return to main page

Developments March 2009 - December 2010
Developments 2011

December 2011	January 2012	February 2012	Latest

January 2012
1st	Republican groups the 32CSM, Republican Sinn Féin and éirígí released their New Year statements. The 32CSM said that 'it has been a difficult year for Republicans, we have seen ever increasing levels of harassment of our activists on both sides of the border. ... The true nature of the six county state has been revealed as in the past year it has reverted to type. We have witnessed the reintroduction of the supergrass trial, political policing, sectarian marches and the criminalizing of Republican POWs.' According to Republican Sinn Féin, 'the coming year will be a challenging one for working-class people in Ireland and across Europe. ... Economically people are faced with the consequences of the austerity programme imposed on them by the EU political and financial elite. For Irish Republicans increasing repression highlights the reality of the old imperialism of British rule in Ireland.' éirígí said that 'willing fools in Leinster House and Stormont happily implemented the anti-social dictates of their respective masters in Berlin, Washington and London... 2011 saw the British state attempt to further increase its malign influence in Ireland. In the Six Counties Britain’s paramilitary police continued with their campaign of harassment and intimidation of the nationalist community in general and republican activists in particular. '
2nd	The Guardian reported on a law suit against Boston College, which was being compelled to publicise taped interviews with IRA activists taken between 2001 and 2006.
3rd	A shot was fired through the window of a car in Antrim.
4th	Two gunmen shot a 28-year-old man in the leg in west Belfast. Hugh Booth from north Belfast was jailed his part in the 2010 Ardoyne riots. In Derry, a man was fined for shouting abuse at police while drunk, saying he 'hoped they got blown up'.
5th	Houses were evacuated during a security alert in north Belfast. It was reported that a bomb had been found in a car. Later it emerged that the car belonged to a soldier, who was accused of having left it unlocked. He was also believed to have had 'some form of military insignia' displayed in the car window. A week later, it was reported that Óglaigh na hÉireann had targetted him and had obtained a photograph of him from Facebook. A petrol bomb was thrown at a house on Jamaica Street, Ardoyne.
6th	Lawyers for former IRA man Gerry McGeogh claimed he had been treated differently from other political prisoners because he was no longer a member of Sinn Féin. Catholic teenager James Turley was subject to a sectarian attack when he left the set of The Good Man.
7th	During the early hours of the morning, a 'large hole' was made in a security wall at the Fountain estate in Derry. A local resident commented that 'the wall was put there for a reason: to protect the people in the Fountain and other residents. Why destroy something that is protecting us?' A pipe bomb was found during a security alert in Dungannon. Shots were fired at a house in east Belfast.
8th	A petrol bomb was left on the doorstep of a house in west Belfast, resulting in a seven-year-old girl having to be treated for smoke inhalation.
9th	During the trial of Brendan McConville and John Wootton over the 2009 killing of police officer Stephen Carroll, it was revealed that police had been bugging Wootton's car.
10th	Shots were fired at a car in Belleek, County Fermanagh. Homes were evacuated in the Waterside area of Derry following reports of an explosion. Members of the public were warned not to touch suspicious objects. Police said that an attack on the police was one line of inquiry. Next day residents returned to their homes with the source of the explosion, which had been heard all over the city, remaining a mystery. On the twelfth the PSNI said they had found no evidence of an explosion, despite the fact that 'many people [they] spoke to reported a bomb explosion' and there had been 'a report of masked men in Dunfield Terrace.'
11th	It was reported that the PSNI had failed in an attempt to force the BBC to hand over footage shot at a Real IRA parade which had taken place in April 2011.
12th	It was reported that police had been meeting community representatives in an attempt to tackle sectarian vandalism in the Black's Road-Suffolk interface area of west Belfast. In Derry, local residents from both sides of the Fountain Estate and Bishop Street interface held a rally against anti-social behaviour and vandalism. An alert in Poleglass, west Belfast, ended when nothing was found.
13th	It was reported that two men found shot dead in Cornwall, England, in August 2011, had been working for 'an IRA gang involved in Liverpool's drug trade'. Murder accused Thomas Haigh said that Irish republicans 'ran Liverpool'. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin, said he was disturbed to learn that documents relating to the paramilitary decommissioning process were being kept at Boston College in the United States. Three men and a woman were arrested over the attempted bomb attack on a soldier on January 5th.
14th	More arrests including a teenager were made over the January 5th attack. A hoax bomb was thrown at police in north Belfast. A robbery on Ballygawley Road in County Tyrone was blamed on republicans.
16th	It was reported that a 40-year-old man had been charged over the bomb on January 5th. An attack on a woman in the Waterside area of Derry was treated as sectarian.
17th	Emergency services dealing with a fire in west Belfast discovered a pipe bomb. The police believed it had been thrown at them by republicans the previous night. It was reported that more three quarters of civilian staff employed by the PSNI on temporary contracts were former RUC who had retired under the Patten redundancy scheme. Many were in sensitive areas such as intelligence. The Belfast Telegraph reported that former IRA hunger striker Marian Price, who was involved in bombing the Old Bailey in 1973, was to stand trial for the Massereene killings. Writing in The Guardian, Eamonn McCann said 'her detention has been a scandal. Price has been effectively held in solitary as the only female in the high-security prison, charged with encouraging support for an illegal organisation.'
18th	Victims campaigner Raymond McCord called for action before the UVF killed another victim. He claimed that 23-year old James Kelly, nephew of Bobby Moffett, had been attacked by loyalist paramilitaries the previous week. However, police denied a link between the attack and paramilitaries.
19th	It was reported that ex-loyalist and republican prisoners were to meet to discuss the Good Friday Agreement. Bombs exploded at Strand Road and Foyle Street in Derry, prompting a massive security operation. There were no reports of injuries. Republicans were blamed for the explosions. Shots were fired through the door of a house in east Belfast.
20th	Brian Shivers was found guilty of the 2009 Massereene killings, while high-profile republican Colin Duffy was acquitted. A relative said their leaving the court had been 'what I can only describe as the most frightening few yards I have ever walked...The loyalists were screaming at us, spitting at us, up in our faces threatening us and it was chaotic.' A 46-year-old man was arrested over suspected republican paramilitary activity.
21st	An eight-year-old girl was injured when racists threw a brick through a house window in east Belfast. Colin Duffy said that the DNA evidence against him had been planted. He said that 'let me state quite categorically here that I had no involvement with what happened at Massereene - no involvement whatsoever - and that has been vindicated in the court.' Having spent a total of seven years in prison on charges for which he was ultimately acquitted, he claimed he was a victim of state persecution.
22nd	Homes were evacuated in Toome, County Antrim, after a suspicious vehicle was found. It was believed that the vehicle was linked to a robbery. Another alert occurred at Ballykelly, County Derry. Next day it was declared a hoax. It was reported that Ballymacall Orange Hall in County Tyrone had been vandalised by republican sympathisers some time between the 19th and 21st. Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin said he had 'nothing to fear' from the Boston College interviews with IRA members. His focus was opposing the government of the Irish Republic and furthering the peace process. Meanwhile, Martin McGuinness stated in a BBC programme that he was still considering whether to meet the British Queen. He said that 'the fact that she was prepared to recognise the importance of the Irish language; that she was prepared to stand in a very dignified way to honour those patriots who struggled in 1916 to bring about a free and independent 32-county Irish Republic, that made an impact upon me.'
23rd	The Ulster Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann said that plans to stage the first all-Ireland fleadh in Derry were to be shelved because of security fears after the bombs of January 19th. However, it was claimed that some members of Comhaltas had been opposed to staging the festival in Derry when it was the UK City of Culture. On the following day, the Derry Comhaltas announced it would appeal. Meanwhile, Derry tourist office opened for the first time since the bombs. A 52-year-old man was arrested in Derry on a charge linked to paramilitary activity. Ofcom ruled that ITV had 'misled' its audience in claming that footage from a video game showed the IRA training.
24th	A petrol bomb was thrown through the window of a house in Ballymoney, County Antrim, in the early hours of the morning. In the Boston College hearing, Jack Dunn said he believed that the PSNI wanted the interview tapes more to investigate current than past paramilitary activity. Martin Kelly was jailed for the murder of anti-peace-process republican Andrew Burns. A bomb alert in Shantallow, Derry ended after nothing was found. John Bosley, whose mother had been killed by the IRA at Aldershot in 1972, called for a public memorial. It was reported that the men at the centre of a UVF supergrass trial would not give evidence in their defence. A man was shot in the leg in Creggan.
25th	DUP MP William McCrea raised the issue of Colin Duffy's acquittal in the British House of Commons. He asked if Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, could 'understand the anger and fear that has been felt in my constituency, and indeed throughout Northern Ireland, in light of the release of Colin Duffy, a person charged on three different occasions for the murder of innocents, yet always seems to find the get out card. What assurance can the secretary of state give my constituents that they are going to be safe from brutal terrorists like Colin Duffy and not be another statistic in a long line of innocent victims?' Paterson commented later that 'despite overwhelming community rejection of their murderous activity, terrorist groups continue to carry out indiscriminate attacks as we saw in Londonderry last week.' Meanwhile, Colin Duffy issued a statement through solicitors that he would 'initiate proceedings against the PSNI and PPS in respect of his malicious prosecution and unlawful detention.' Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson applauded the decision of the Ulster Council of Comhaltas to back the Derry fleadh. A federal judge threw out the US government's attempts to obtain the Boston College interviews with IRA members.
26th	A 27-year-old man was charged with 'collecting information likely to be of use to terrorists'. The next day, his solicitor argued he was 'a trainspotter, a loner, an anorak, a nerd with no friends' and therefore innocent.
27th	Neil Hyde, who had been accused of murdering the only journalist killed in Northern Ireland, Martin O'Hagan, agreed to assist the police in their case against the LVF. A bomb alert occurred in Kinawley.
28th	Derry won the bid to host the all-Ireland fleadh in 2013 despite security concerns. Shots were fired into a family home on Glen Road, Derry.
29th	DUP leader and first minister Peter Robison made 'another little piece of history' by attending a GAA match. Several hundred people marched to mark the fortieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
30th	In the Stephen Carroll trial, an expert gave evidence regarding the computer of John Paul Wootton. A document had been found detailing the 'Craigavon Republican Youth New Unit', whose plans were to 'get money, advertise through republican slogans, get weaponry and recruit and train'. SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey said that the detention of republican Marian Price has 'unintentionally provided a recruiting tool' for republicans opposed to the peace process. John Patrick Duffy, a 37-year-old voluntary worker, was jailed for six months for throwing a petrol bomb at a police van after the Apprentice Boys' Parade on August 13th, 2011.
31st	A woman whose Dungiven home had been attacked the previous evening said she was thinking of leaving Northern Ireland. She had come over three years previously from Scotland. Four pipe bombs were found in a box in Portadown.

Return to top

February 2012
1st	The SDLP warned that the rehiring of former RUC officers into the PSNI was damaging nationalist confidence in the police.
2nd	DUP politician Jeffrey Donaldson said that the Maze/Long Kesh prison, where a Conflict Resolution Centre was to be built, would not become a 'shrine' to the IRA. He said that' I know a lot of Protestants who would support this on the basis of what has been agreed. It is about promoting dialogue and it is a way forward.' Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney commented that 'the redevelopment of the Long Kesh site will [...] be a shining example of how the North accepts diversity.' However, Ulster Unionist Mike Nesbitt said that 'what will happen if we go ahead with this is that a large section of the community from the Protestant/Unionist side will not only feel they cannot support it, they will build their own conflict centre.'
3rd	It was reported that Brian Shivers, convicted of the Massereene shootings of March 2009, had only four or five years to live. However, his lawyer accepted that this would not affect the length of his sentence. Meanwhile a court heard that John Paul Wootton, accused of killing PSNI officer Stephen Carroll, had tried to collect information on another policeman prior to the shooting. A bomb alert in Downpatrick was declared a hoax. The Policing Board urged the PSNI to do more about paramilitary attacks on young people.
5th	A man in Ballymena was charged with possessing ammunition and firearms in suspicious circumstances. Police investigating a domestic incident in which a PSNI officer was injured came under attack from a mob. The Guardian reported that 'the estate has been a frequent trouble spot for the police [who] have come under repeated attack, ranging from riots to shootings. The North Armagh area is a stronghold for the hardline republican faction, the Continuity IRA.'