HUMAN SHIELD SAVED CELBRIDGE GIRL IN DUBLIN BLAST

Leinster Leader 25 May 1979

Human shield saved Celbridge girl in Dublin bomb blast

A young Celbridge girl, injured in the Dublin bomb blast at Talbot Street, told a “Leader” reporter how a young man shielded her with his own body from possible death, while her friend from Clondalkin was mowed down by the blast. Fifteen-year-old Noeleen Bolger of St. Patrick’s Park, Celbridge, was taken to hospital but was discharged later that night after being treated for shock and injuries. Noeleen works at Lenehan’s hardware store, directly opposite where the car bomb was parked. Her colleague, fifteen-year-old Bernadette Kelly of Booth Road, Clondalkin, was said to be progressing at Jervis St. Hospital this week and suffering mainly from shock. Jack Myler of Castleview Road, Clondalkin, was injured in the South Leinster St. blast, and Miss Josephine Bradley of Kilcormack, Co. Offaly, died during the week of her injures.

Mrs. Elizabeth Maguire of Kearneystown, Celbridge, confirmed to our reporter, however, that she had not been caught in the catastrophe, as reported in daily newspapers, but was at home at the time. Describing her experience at her home in Celbridge, Miss Bolger, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Bolger, said, “We were standing around the cash register at the door waiting to leave work. I began to walk through the door as I had to take clothes to the cleaners. Suddenly there was an awful bang and Denis Kenny (aged 17) of Dublin, one of my workmates, grabbed me and shielded me with his body. “The windows caved in and people started to come into the shop. As the people tried to come in, we were trying to get out and there was confusion. One girl was lying in bits outside the shop. Then I went to hospital.” She got a piece of glass in her throat and this had left her ill for a few days but she felt she would have been more seriously injured but for the protection of Mr. Kenny, who was gashed in the head.

Her mother, Mrs. Josephine Bolger, described her traumatic experience on Friday night. “I didn’t know anything until twenty to seven when a neighbour came in and said Talbot Street had got the worst of the blast. I rang my friend in Dublin with whom Noeleen was staying because of the bus strike. She told me Noeleen had not come home and her husband had gone looking for her. “He had tried the hospitals but without result. Then at nine o’clock, Noeleen arrived outside the door, after being driven home. I couldn’t believe she was safe and it didn’t really hit me until Saturday.”

Jack Myler of Clondalkin had a remarkable escape as his van was parked opposite the South Leinster Street bomb. The car with the bomb was parked opposite the Chubb Alarm premises where he worked and he was double parked outside the premises. The van was wrecked and he was still suffering from shock and injuries this week.

When our reporter called to the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Maguire and her husband Jim at Celbridge, she said “I was’nt there at all and that is is not the first time I had to say that.” She had been sent home at the time and following publication of her name as being among the injured, she had a constant stream of callers. She had visited St. Patrick Dunn’s Hospital earlier on Friday, however, she added.

Households in Co. Kidare and surrounding counties were thrown into disarray as first reports of the bomb horror filtered through. A Naas man’s injury last year in a similar incident came to mind as distraught relatives sought news of their kinsfolk working in or visiting Dublin. For many it would be the answer they did not want, and jammed telephone lines left others without an answer as a blood-red sunset signified the end of one of Ireland’s worst days.