Title: The 1973 Escape from Mountjoy Prison by Helicopter
Speaker: Dr Mary Muldowney,
Time: @ 7:45 PM
Location: Iona Pastoral Centre
About the Author:
Mary Muldownney – Historian in Residence – Dublin North-West at Dublin City Council
Source: Linkedin page.
Quote: “My employment history includes research and writing, lecturing and training and project management. My current role as Historian in Residence for Dublin City Council involves all of the above, as well as enthusiasm for meeting people and encouraging them to engage with their own histories. In January 2024 I moved my area of responsibility from Dublin Central to Dublin North-West.
I am the author of books and journal articles based primarily on oral history interviews. These are in addition to a range of other publications (see indicative list below)”.
Sample list from 20 publications (via LinkedIn)
- With Kelly Fitzgerald, “Oral Life Stories” in Liam Harte (Ed.), The History of Irish Autobiography.With Kelly Fitzgerald, “Oral Life Stories” in Liam Harte (Ed.), The History of Irish Autobiography.Cambridge University Press · Jan 1, 2018Cambridge University Press · Jan 1, 2018
- “The brief and troubled life of the Sunday Journal” The Sunday Papers. The History of Ireland’s Weekly Press. “The brief and troubled life of the Sunday Journal” The Sunday Papers. The History of Ireland’s Weekly Press. Four Courts Press · Jan 1, 2018Four Courts Press · Jan 1, 2018
- “That crazy idea of giving women the vote” in They didn’t go away. Women after the 1916 Rising.“That crazy idea of giving women the vote” in They didn’t go away. Women after the 1916 Rising.Stoneybatter & Smithfield People’s History Project · Jan 1, 2017Stoneybatter & Smithfield People’s History Project · Jan 1, 2017
The Mountjoy Prison Escape by Helicopter 1973
The Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape occurred on October 31, 1973, when three Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Ireland, by boarding a hijacked helicopter that briefly landed in the prison’s exercise yard. The escape was a major event that made headlines around the world and was an embarrassment to the Irish coalition government led by Fine Gael’s Liam Cosgrave.
The escapees, Seamus Twomey, J. B. O’Hagan, and Kevin Mallon, were recaptured within months, but the incident was a significant blow to the government’s security measures and led to a massive manhunt involving 20,000 members of the Irish Defence Forces and Garda Síochána.
AP Interview with helicopter pilot Captain Thompson Boyes, 1973.
Source: Associated Press
Photo Gallery: Click on any image to open the Gallery.
An example of the Aérospatiale Alouette II helicopter used in the escape, with actual photos from a forensic examination of the helicopter used (2 photos), and the reporter Tom McCaughren reporting on the event for the main TV channel in Ireland RTÉ from Mountjoy Prison.
Sources: commons.wikimedia.org; dublinfestivalofhistory.ie; anphoblacht.com; The Irish News (2 images).
Éalú (Escape) – Mountjoy Prison
– originally a TG4 docudrama. (Irish language with English subtitles)
Source: A Troubled Land Archive
IRA Mountjoy Helicopter Escape: Up and Away
Source: PushPull Production.
A 2021 update documentary as told through the eyes of four men who were in the prison that day, two Wardens and two Republican prisoners. This documentary illustrates how a 60 second event that took place over 50 years ago is imprinted on the memory of those who witnessed it.
Knocklyon History Society 
