Today in Irish History - April 29th

1916 - Pearse orders surrender of the Easter Rising rebels on this date. Approximately 64 rebels have been killed, 132 crown forces, and 230 civilians. 2,500 people have been wounded; the centre of Dublin has been devastated by the shelling

1957 - Daniel Day-Lewis, best actor Oscar winner for My Left Foot, is born

1970 - Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney, both former Irish government ministers, together with two other men James Kelly (Captain), then an Irish Army Intelligence Officer, and John Kelly, a Belfast Republican, were charged in a Dublin court with conspiracy to illegally import arms for use by the Irish Republican Army.

1976 - An off-duty member of the Ulster Defence Regiment and a Protestant civilian died as a result of an Irish Republican Army attack near Dungannon, County Tyrone.

1977 - Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), warned in a statement that if the British authorities failed to alter its policies then loyalists might have to consider taking over the administration of Northern Ireland.

1981 - The private secretary of Pope John Paul II held talks with Humphrey Atkins, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, before paying another visit to Bobby Sands in the Maze Prison.

1986 - Seamus McElwaine, IRA is killed

1991 - The ceasefire announced on 17 April 1991 by the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) began at midnight.

1997 - Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) prisoners caused a riot and staged a protest on top of the roofs of blocks H1 and H2 in the Maze Prison. There were protesting at the tighter security rules that were approved on 28 April 1997. The Loyalist prisoners said that the new rules should only apply to Republican prisoners.

2000 - Patrick Neville (31), a civilian from the Republic of Ireland, was found shot dead on a stairway in a block of flats near to his home in Inchicore, Dublin. It was believed that the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) was responsible for his killing

Sources:
CAIN (http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/)
Ireland Culture and Customs (http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/02Hist/Home.html)