Dublin and Monaghan bomb: Survivor recalls day of blast

Among the Monaghan bomb victims was Patrick Askin from Glaslough, who had four young children including a set of two-year-old twin girls.

The 44-year-old sawmill employee had stopped for a pint on his way home from work that Friday evening when the device exploded in Church Square.

“Mum was in the kitchen and she heard the bomb going off, so that’s six miles away from Monaghan,” said the couple’s daughter, Sharon Askin.

Her grieving mother had to take on the role of two parents while bringing up her young family alone.

Ms Askin added that her older brothers had fond recollections of their father but neither she nor her twin sister had any memory of him at all.

“It’s hard because you don’t remember him. People say: ‘You never miss what you never had’, but you truly do,” she said.

“Especially on big days, when the grandchildren were born. He never got to meet his grandchildren.”

She said her family still had many questions about the bombing, including why the Garda (Irish police) investigation lasted only weeks.

“They sent the evidence to Ulster to be tested – you may as well hand the sheep to the wolf there,” she added.