Patrick Rooney

Patrick Rooney
9 year-old Patrick Rooney was shot-dead by the RUC in August 1969. Patrick was shot as his father Cornelius attempted to carry him from his bedroom to the family living room for safety during disturbances when a RUC/loyalist led mob attacked the lower Falls area in Belfast. Patrick Rooney was the first child to be killed in the Troubles.

Cornelius, Patrick's father, broke a twenty-nine year silence about the incident speaking publicly about that traumatic evening at an event in 1998 held by Relatives for Justice entitled 'Forgotten Victims/Survivors'. Cornelius told the audience that on the eve of the killing Sir Chichester Clarke, the then northern Prime Minister, in response to sporadic trouble across the north advised people in a televised broadcast to remain in their homes for safety.

Cornelius said that his children had been frightened in their rooms, that he was attempting to gather, comfort and reassure them from the attack outside. He picked Patrick from his bed, held him, then put him down. A bullet pierced the wall grazing Cornelius on the side of his head. Patrick slid down the wall and Cornelius thought that he had fainted at the sight of seeing blood from his father's wound.

Cornelius lifted Patrick off the floor into his arms. The back of his head had been blown off. It was only then that he realised Patrick had been shot also. The fatal bullet had been fired from a machine gun mounted on small military carrier. Six nationalists including Patrick were shot-dead that same evening by the RUC and loyalists. Scores were wounded.

The resulting Scarman Report into the killings and attacks failed to hold those responsible accountable and served only to add insult to injury for the bereaved families. Evidence presented at the hearing detailed that only warning shots had been fired by the RUC and that these were fired into the air. This was accepted despite the fact that the Rooney family lived in a ground floor flat. Like the Widgery Report Lord Scarman's report was and is still viewed as being a whitewash, however it still remains the official version of events that evening.

Ironically some of those RUC members who gave evidence now hold senior positions within the RUC. Likewise some of the legal counsel for the RUC/crown went on to become judges.