Today in Irish History - March 15th

1672 - The first declaration of indulgence suspending penal laws issued by Charles II

1852 - Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory, playwright, folklorist and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre, is born in Roxborough, Co. Galway

1974 - Two members of the Irish Republican Army were killed when a bomb they were planting exploded prematurely in Dungannon, County Tyrone.

1975 - Two members of the Ulster Defence Association were shot dead in the Alexandra Bar, York Road, Belfast, in an attack by the Ulster Volunteer Force. These killings were part of a feud between the two Loyalist paramilitary groups.

1976 - The IRA is linked to a bomb that explodes on a London Underground train; the driver of the train is shot dead while chasing a gunman who is believed to have detonated the bomb. Ten other people are injured.

1981 - Francis Hughes, an Irish Republican Army prisoner in the Maze Prison, joined Bobby Sands on hunger strike.

1982 - Alan McCrum (11), a Protestant boy, was killed and 34 people injured when the Irish Republican Army exploded a bomb in Bridge Street, Banbridge, County Down. An inadequate warning had been given.

1995 - The Ulster Democratic Party announced that a delegation would be attending the St Patrick's Day reception at the White House, Washington, despite the presence of Gerry Adams, then President of Sinn Féin.

1999 - A prominent Irish civil rights solicitor, Rosemary Nelson, is killed by a Loyalist car bomb in Lurgan, Co. Armagh.

Sources:
CAIN
Wild Geese
Irish Culture and Customs  ¶ 2:47 a.m.