Michael McKevitt Bernadette Sands McKevitt, a sister of 1981 PIRA hunger striker and MP, Bobby Sands, who died during his hunger strike. Sands McKevitt was a leading member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and had been described in media reports as the third highest ranking Real IRA officer. She left the 32 County Sovereignty Movement following the imprisonment of her husband. Michael McKevitt Michael McKevitt (born 4 September 1949) is an Irish republican who was convicted of directing terrorism as the leader of the paramilitary organisation, the Real IRA. McKevitt, a native of County Louth, joined the Provisional IRA during the
The Troubles in Ballymena Ballymena on 24 May 1974. The pub had stayed open during the Ulster Workers' Council strike. The gunmen arrived at the pub in a convoy with a busload of other loyalists. All 30 men were detained at a police road block. Two were later sentenced to life imprisonment. Yvonne Dunlop, aged 27, a Protestant, was killed as the result of a Provisional IRA firebomb in the shop where she worked on Bridge Street on 9 October 1976. Among those jailed for the attack was IRA member Thomas McElwee, who died in the 1981 Irish hunger strike. Later that same day,