Coleraine Bomb Survivor And Former IRA Man Jailed For Attack Held ‘Very Moving’ Deathbed Conversation

Belfast Telegraph ✒ A Sinn Fein councillor who was jailed for his role in a car bomb that claimed six lives has spoken of a “very moving” deathbed conversation he had with a survivor of the atrocity.

Garrett Hargan

The extraordinary encounter at Antrim Area Hospital between former IRA man Sean McGlinchey and victims’ campaigner David Gilmour was first reported by the Northern Constitution.

Councillor McGlinchey was convicted of the 1973 Coleraine bombings and served 18 years in prison.

Among 39 others seriously injured was Mr Gilmour’s father, who was blown the entire length of the shop he had entered moments before.

David miraculously escaped unscathed having been left in the car outside.

Mr Gilmour died at the age of 59 on August 30, 2022, at the Macmillan Unit of Antrim Area Hospital.

For almost a year nothing was known about the conversation between the two men.

Mr Gilmour had previously been critical of the councillor for what he termed “legitimising the rewriting of a terrorist past”.

They were familiar with each other for many years and had passed each other on countless occasions without saying a word.

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