Ronnie Bunting (10 January 1948 – 15 October 1980) was a
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
Irish republican
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The develop ...
and
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
activist in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. He became a member of the
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerged ...
in the early 1970s and was a founder-member of the
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ga, Arm Saoirse Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed on 10 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seek ...
(INLA) in 1974. He became leader of the INLA in 1978 and was assassinated in 1980 aged 32.
Background
Bunting came from an
Ulster Protestant
Ulster Protestants ( ga, Protastúnaigh Ultach) are an ethnoreligious group in the Irish province of Ulster, where they make up about 43.5% of the population. Most Ulster Protestants are descendants of settlers who arrived from Britain in the ...
family in East
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
. His father,
Ronald Bunting
Major Ronald Terence Bunting (1924–1984) was a British Army officer and unionist political figure in Northern Ireland.
Bunting was commissioned into the Armagh and Down Army Cadet Force in May 1946 and resigned in March 1950 when he transfer ...
, had been a major in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
and Ronnie grew up in various military barracks around the world. Ronnie's father became a supporter and associate of
Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...
and ran for election under the
Protestant Unionist Party
The Protestant Unionist Party (PUP)Not to be confused with the Progressive Unionist Party. was a unionist political party operating in Northern Ireland from 1966 to 1971. It was the forerunner of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and emerged ...
banner.
Journalist
Walter Ellis
Walter Ellis (born September 7, 1948) is a Northern Ireland-born, United States-based writer. He spends his summers in France.
Ellis is the author of ''The Beginning of the End: The Crippling Disadvantage of a Happy Irish Childhood'', the story ...
, who was Bunting's cousin and also a Protestant left-wing advocate of a
united Ireland
United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...
, recalled him in their teenage years as domineering with violent tendencies. Ellis was expelled from
Orangefield High School
Orangefield High School was a secondary school in east Belfast, Northern Ireland. Formerly Orangefield Boys' Secondary School and Orangefield Girls' Secondary School, it became coeducational before it closed in 2014.
Notable alumni of the Boys' S ...
after setting fire to the prefects' room at Bunting's urging.
Having completed his education and graduating from
Queen's University Belfast
, mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back?
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, type = Public research university
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, Ronnie Bunting briefly became a history teacher in Belfast, but later become involved in the
and then with
Irish republican
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The develop ...
organisations.
[''Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles'' by ]David McKittrick
David McKittrick (born 1949) is a Belfast-born journalist who has reported on Northern Ireland since 1971.
Professional career
McKittrick began his career as a reporter for the ''East Antrim Times''. He joined the ''Irish Times'' in 1973 as a r ...
, et al. Mainstream Publishing (May 10, 2001); ,
Unlike most Protestants in Northern Ireland, Bunting became a militant republican. His father, by contrast, was a committed
Ulster loyalist
Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and oppose a uni ...
, who organised armed stewards for counter-demonstrations (against civil rights marches) called by Ian Paisley, most infamously at the
Burntollet Bridge incident
Burntollet Bridge was the setting for an attack on 4 January 1969 during the first stages of the Troubles of Northern Ireland. A People's Democracy march from Belfast to Derry was attacked by Ulster loyalists whilst passing through Burntollet ...
, when his followers attacked a
People's Democracy civil rights march on 4 January 1969.
Despite their political differences, Ronnie remained close with his father.
Membership of the Official IRA
Some time around 1970, as a result of his
left wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
,
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
interpretation of
Irish republicanism
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The develop ...
, as well as a belief in the necessity of armed revolution, Bunting joined the
Official Irish Republican Army
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA (OIRA; ) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "socialist state, workers' republic" en ...
(OIRA). (The other wing of the IRA—the
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...
—was more nationalist and Catholic in its outlook.) At the time, the communal conflict known as
the Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
was beginning and the Official IRA was involved in shootings and bombings. Along with many others, Bunting was
interned
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
in November 1971, and held in
Long Kesh
Long may refer to:
Measurement
* Long, characteristic of something of great duration
* Long, characteristic of something of great length
* Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate
* Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...
until the following April (see also
Operation Demetrius
Operation Demetrius was a British Army operation in Northern Ireland on 9–10 August 1971, during the Troubles. It involved the mass arrest and internment (imprisonment without trial) of people suspected of being involved with the Irish Republi ...
).
Membership of the INLA
In 1974, Bunting followed
Seamus Costello
Seamus Costello ( ga, Séamus Mac Coisdealbha, 1939 – 5 October 1977) was an Irish politician. He was a leader of Official Sinn Féin and the Official Irish Republican Army and latterly of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the Iri ...
and other militants who disagreed with the OIRA's ceasefire of 1972, into a new grouping, the
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ga, Arm Saoirse Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed on 10 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as "the Troubles". The group seek ...
(INLA). Immediately, a violent feud broke out between the OIRA and the INLA.
In 1975, Bunting survived an assassination attempt when he was shot in a Belfast street.
In 1977, Costello was killed by an OIRA gunman in Dublin. Bunting and his family hid in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
until 1978, when he returned to Belfast. For the remaining two years of his life, Bunting was the military leader of the INLA. The grouping regularly attacked the British Army and
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...
(RUC) in Belfast. Bunting called in claims of responsibility to the media by the code name "Captain Green".
Assassination
![Divismore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Divismore.png)
At about 4:30 a.m. on 15 October 1980, several gunmen wearing
balaclavas stormed Bunting's home in the Downfine Gardens area of
Andersonstown
Andersonstown is a suburb of west Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Black Mountain (Belfast), Black Mountain and Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong Iri ...
. They shot Bunting, his wife Suzanne and another INLA man and ex-member of the
Red Republican Party, Noel Lyttle, who had been staying there after his recent release from detention. According to ''The Guardian'' report by
David Beresford,
The shots woke the Buntings' children, age 7 and 3, who ran screaming into the street after discovering their parents lying together at the top of the stairs, covered in blood. Mr Lyttle was shot in bed, near a cot in which the Buntings' baby son was sleeping.
Both Ronnie Bunting and Lyttle were killed. Suzanne Bunting, who was shot in the face,
survived her serious injuries. The attack was claimed by the
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and Timeline of Ulster Defence Association act ...
(UDA), but the INLA claimed the
Special Air Service
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...
were involved.
Upon his death, Bunting's body was kept in a funeral parlour on the
Newtownards Road
The A20 is a road in County Down in Northern Ireland. It runs from Belfast to Newtownards and on to Portaferry.
Beginning as the Newtownards Road at the junction of Bridge End close to Belfast city centre, the road runs in an easterly directio ...
opposite the headquarters of the UDA. On the day of the funeral, as the coffin was being removed, UDA members jeered from their building. The IRSP had wanted a republican paramilitary-style funeral for Bunting but his father refused and had Bunting buried in the family plot of a
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...
cemetery near
Donaghadee
Donaghadee ( , ) is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the northeast coast of the Ards Peninsula, about east of Belfast and about six miles (10 km) south east of Bangor. It is in the civil parish of Donaghadee and t ...
.
[Henry McDonald & Jackie Holland ''INLA Deadly Divisions'', Torc (1994); , ]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunting, Ronnie
1940s births
1980 deaths
Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland
Irish National Liberation Army members
Irish republicans
Irish republicans interned without trial
Official Irish Republican Army members
People killed by the Ulster Defence Association
Protestant Irish nationalists