Down GAA have acquired a lease on land in Ballykinler owned by the British Ministry of Defence (MOD). This same site was used by the MOD to train Unionist death squads to murder nationalists in the local area.
Abercorn Barracks, in the small village of Ballykinler, County Down, was occupied by the British Ministry of Defence between 1901, when it was built, and 2018, when it was closed. The site is still owned by the MOD and the surrounding land continues to be used as a training area and a firing range.
The Base and its occupants have long played a central role in the history of murder and abuse against the Irish people.
As part of the British policy of ‘Normalisation’ in the Six Counties, 2nd Battalion The Rifles switched their headquarters from Ballykinler to Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn.
In May 2024, with most of the base now unoccupied, Down GAA became Tenants of the MOD to build their ‘Centre of Excellence’.
While the centre will no doubt be a welcome new facility for Gaels across Down, it can’t be ignored that they will be neighbours of the MOD whose shots can be heard daily in towns and villages around the area.
The crimes carried out by Crown Forces and their murder gangs from this Base go back as far as the Tan war which began just one year after the base opened. Interned prisoners including members of Óglaigh Na hÉireann were tortured here and many would not make it out alive.
In 1971, as part of Operation Demetrius the camp was used in the infamous torture of the Hooded Men. These men, most with no connection to Republicanism, were beaten humiliated, and forced into ‘stress positions’ for long periods.
As part of the British government’s strategy of ‘Ulsterisation’ the camp facilitated and trained the UDR and RUC, two groups who harassed Catholic communities across the Six Counties and colluded with Unionist death squads in the murder of many of them.
Indeed, members of these organisations based at Ballykinler were active members of the same Unionist gangs waging war on the Catholic community. Information received from these members was used to target Catholics, and weapons and ammunition were provided to Unionist gangs to murder them, backed up with training provided on this base.
Not 10 minutes away from the camp at Ballykinler is the small village of Loughinisland. On 18 June 1994, 6 men were murdered there by Unionist killers. Just one month after the GAA became tenants at this camp saw the 30th anniversary of this massacre. The killers included an RUC informant and a serving British Army soldier.
This is where Down GAA, with the support of Sinn Féin and their landlords the British MOD plan to build their Centre of Excellence.
As part of the collaboration between the GAA and MOD, there are plans to build a so-called British History Museum which, as part of the agenda of normalisation will aim to glorify the British occupation of Ireland and the very same killers of so many of our people over the years.
When glorifying the history of the British occupation of Ireland will they remember Loughinisland?
History has taught that the British cannot be trusted. The failure of the Good Friday agreement is laid bare by the fact that the MOD will retain and use Ballykinler to train their killers.
Rather than build a museum for the British occupiers, Down GAA would do well to instead remember those killed by their new landlords. Gaels across Ireland and those who call themselves Republicans must oppose this attempt to sanitise the history of Britain’s brutal occupation.
