Border bridge
Eamon Phoenix
The British GOC in the North in 1973 expressed delight at the destruction of Aghalane Bridge on the Fermanagh-Cavan border by a bomb explosion in 1973. This is revealed in confidential Stormont files released by the Public Record Office in Belfast today.
The Border crossing had been badly damaged in an explosion on November 21st, 1972.
In a note on the file, an official, W J Forester, noted the local Protestant community in South Fermanagh "were in fear of raiders from across the Border. They have already suffered loss of life and damage to their property. Irrespective of who destroyed the bridge, it is very likely that they will view its restoration with distrust."
In such circumstances, the Unionist-controlled Fermanagh County Council was unlikely to wish to restore the bridge at an early stage.
Restoration was strongly opposed by the prominent Fermanagh Unionist MP, Captain John Brooke in December 1972. In a letter to the Northern Ireland Office, Mr Brooke wrote that the destruction of the bridge had brought security benefits to local people "who had suffered much from IRA depredations in the past. For example, two members of the Bulloch family had been murdered near the bridge".
He noted there seemed to be "a local assumption that the blowing up of the bridge - since it did such damage to IRA activities, was carried out by loyalists".
He added that the local council did not want the bridge repaired and his view was shared by the British army. In reply, a NIO official, Mr Frank Steele agreed to ask the Irish Government to hold up repair work on the Cavan side. The failure to repair the bridge brought a strong protest from the local Nationalist MP, Mr Frank McManus who also alleged the British army was conducting an "improper census of religion in South Fermanagh."
The official British army view on the issue was strongly expressed by the GOC in the North, General Harry Tuzo who informed Sir Harold Black at Stormont on December 28, 1972: "From a security point of view we were delighted that the crossing was destroyed. Obviously we could not say this officially."
The general noted Co Cavan authorities had now erected a bailey bridge over the Woodford River at the controversial spot.
This bridge was again destroyed on January 10th, 1973 by yet another mysterious explosion. In a wry note in the file, an official wrote that the issue was now "water under the bridge now that it has been blown up".