Maze Prison escape celebrating the escape called "The Helicopter Song", which topped the Irish popular music charts. 19 IRA members escaped from Portlaoise Jail on 18 August 1974 after overpowering guards and using gelignite to blast through gates, and 33 prisoners attempted to escape from Long Kesh on 6 November 1974 after digging a tunnel. IRA member Hugh Coney was shot dead by a sentry, 29 other prisoners were captured within a few yards of the prison, and the remaining three were back in custody within 24 hours. In March 1975, ten prisoners escaped from the courthouse in Newry while on trial for
Greenough Regional Prison throwing mattresses over razor wire and climbing over. The prisoners had secretly brewed the alcohol in the prison and consumed it prior to their escape. Two prisoners escaped from the minimum security section of the prison in 2008 after digging their way out under a security fence using a pool cue and a dust pan. A report released in 2010 on conditions in the prison found that conditions were degrading with overcrowding forcing up to three inmates to share cells that were designed to hold one. At the time the prison was designed to hold a total population of 219