Northern Ireland

Former IRA bomber from Co Tyrone 'faces deportation from US'

<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif, Arial, Verdana, &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;; ">Darcy McMenamin has been living in Boston</span>
Darcy McMenamin has been living in Boston Darcy McMenamin has been living in Boston

A convicted IRA bomber, released from prison under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, faces deportation from America after being handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Boston.

Darcy McMenamin (44), originally from Tattyreagh in Co Tyrone, was part of an IRA unit that bombed a vacant police station in 1993.

Two passers-by were slightly injured in the blast at nearby Fintona.

Mr McMenamin was reportedly passed to ICE officials last week after coming to police attention over motoring matters.

He had been running a successful business in America.

Mr McMenamin is a son of former Sinn Féin Seskinore councillor Gerry McMenamin who served on Omagh District Council during the 1980s and who died in 2016.

The Co Tyrone man had close contacts with the Irish American community in Boston.

In 2016 he spoke at a Rhode Island Irish history event, hosted by the Sons and Daughters of Erin, where he spoke about his childhood growing up as a republican in Co Tyrone during the Troubles.

Mr McMemamin was 18 when he and a co-accused planted a bomb that destroyed the vacant Fintona police station and marked the end of the IRA's annual Christmas truce.

Two bystanders, a man and a woman in their 20s, suffered shock and minor cuts.

The following year the IRA announced a ceasefire.

Mr McMenamin was sentenced to 16 years for his role in the bombing but was freed from the Maze in 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement early prisoner releases.

He moved to Boston where he has lived ever since as an undocumented immigrant until coming to the attention of ICE.

The agency's website lists Darcy Gearoid McMenamin as being in custody in Bristol County House of Corrections in Massachusetts.

Last year Mr McMenamin appeared on the website of Beragh Red Knights GAA as having won £1,000 in the club's annual development draw. His address was given as Philadelphia/Tattyreagh.