Martin Doherty

Martin "Doco" Doherty (11 July 1958 – 21 May 1994) was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who was shot dead while attempting to prevent a bombing by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at a pub in Dublin, Ireland. Doherty was the first person to be killed in the Republic by the UVF since 1975.

Background and IRA activity Doherty was born on 11 July 1958 in the Finglas area of Dublin, into a family of five brothers and six sisters. He played soccer for a club in Dunsink, in addition to Gaelic football. He was served with an exclusion order preventing him from entering the United Kingdom.

Death

On 21 May 1994 an event was organised by Sinn Féin's Prisoner of War Department featuring rebel band The Irish Brigade 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. Another doorman 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 attempted bombing was the first in Dublin since the 1970s, and Doherty was the first person killed in the Republic 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". As Doherty's coffin was being removed from his home in Finglas a paramilitary display took place, with a ten-strong IRA colour party dressed in leather jackets and berets saluting his coffin, which was draped in the Irish Tricolour with a beret and pair of black gloves placed on top. Doherty was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery, A spokesman for the Fianna Fáil government stated that similar displays had occurred when Fine Gael were in power. In 2006 a Garda superintendent stated the investigation into Doherty's death was ongoing, and that "We still have an unsolved murder and the file remains open. To date, no one has been made amenable". Doherty's family believe the Irish authorities are withholding key information about the case, and are demanding answers from the Irish government. as well as the Nassau County chapter of the Irish Northern Aid Committee in the United States. An annual commemoration march from the Dick McKee memorial in Finglas village to nearby Glasnevin Cemetery takes place each year.