Strabane: Encyclopedia II - Strabane - Recent History

Strabane - Recent History

Strabane once had the dubious distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in the European Union, although in recent years the town has recovered to an extent economically. However, the inevitable closure of the town's largest employer, the Adria factory, will see the town plunge into economic chaos with huge ramifications.

Strabane was badly scarred by the Troubles, beginning in the early 1970s and continuing throughout much of the 1990s, with bombings commonplace and Irish Republican paramilitary groups, mainly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), regularly attacking the bases of both the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) located in the town. Dozens of British soldiers met their deaths in the Strabane area and a fewer number of policemen serving in the RUC met the same fate. Many civilians died during the course of the Troubles, some killed controversially by the British Army, others by republican paramilitaries or when caught up in attacks on the security forces.

One notable incident in the Head of the Town area of Strabane during the Troubles occurred in February 1985 when three IRA members, Charlie Breslin (20), David Devine (16) and Michael Devine (22), were killed by a SAS unit as they returned to an arms dump in a field at the back of Fountain Street. 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.

Many regiments from England, Scotland and Wales served in Strabane at various times during the Troubles. As of recently there is no permanent British army presence in the town, although checkpoints and helicopter activity occurs daily. Some nationalists also claim that police brutality and intimidation is still common in the town, with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), (successors to the RUC), having little support in Strabane as of yet. With the ongoing reforms of the PSNI and the creation of the Strabane District Policing Partnership this may change.

Recent years have seen Strabane, an overwhelmingly nationalist town, become a centre of dissident republican paramilitarism with groups such as the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), increasing in membership. "Shows of strength" have been carried out by the RIRA, mainly in the Head of the Town and Ballycolman areas of Strabane, where members of the organisation appear heavily armed with machine guns and rocket launchers. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) has carried out many high-profile armed robberies at locations such as banks and supermarkets in the town since 2001, which have tailed off since a BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight documentary highlighted the events in December 2004. One such robbery at the Ulster Bank in Strabane's Abercorn Square netted £500,000 for the organisation.

In August 2005, a Channel 4 television programme presented by property experts Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer, named Strabane as the third worst place to live in the United Kingdom, largely because of the high unemployment rate [1].

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Recent History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki