David Alexander Mulholland

The third bomb, planted inside a blue Austin 1800 Maxi, went off in South Leinster Street at 17:32 and two more women were killed outright.

David Alexander Mulholland (5 October 1938 – 10 December 2003) was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary, known to the security forces for his alleged involvement in bombing attacks.

He joined the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) sometime in the early 1970s.

Mulholland was ordered by Hanna to drive a metallic green 1970 model Hillman Avenger registration number DIA 4063 into Parnell Street, located on the northside of Dublin's city centre.

The Avenger, along with the second of the three bomb cars, was preceded by a lead "scout" car.

Meanwhile, Hanna and Jackson headed back to Northern Ireland in the latter's poultry lorry.

Upon reaching the city centre, Mulholland, according to one eyewitness, drove up the wrong way of a one-way street (Cathedral Street), thereby attracting attention.

He then drove back down the same street and turned left into Marlborough Street where he proceeded towards Parnell Street.

At about 17.12 he arrived at a parking bay in Parnell Street which was occupied by a married couple, Mortimer and Teresa O'Loughlin, who were just leaving.

The latter got a good, clear look at him.

As soon as they pulled out, Mulholland moved into their space and parked the car bomb.

This was close to the southwestern intersection with Marlborough Street, facing the direction of O'Connell Street.

The green Avenger, hijacked that morning in Belfast, had reached its final destination in the parking bay outside the Welcome Inn pub and Barry's supermarket, with a butcher's shop and a petrol station, the Westbrook Motors Company, nearby.

Mulholland then got out of the car and walked away.

At 17.28 the 100-pound bomb exploded and the Avenger came apart in a ball of flame.

The blast blew out shop fronts, caused considerable damage to vehicles and buildings in the vicinity, and hurtled bodies, body parts, pieces of the car, glass and shrapnel in all directions.

The blast also created a six-by-three foot crater in the street.

Ten people were killed, including a young couple, John and Anne O'Brien, and their two infant daughters.

An elderly man had his leg and half his head blown away.

Many others were seriously injured, among them a teenaged petrol-pump attendant and a four-year-old boy, who suffered severe facial injuries.

His father was one of the dead.

The force of the explosion had catapulted a brown Mini which had been parked behind the Avenger onto the pavement outside the Welcome Inn at a right angle.

Two minutes later a second car bomb, a blue Ford Escort (whose driver remains unidentified), exploded in Talbot Street, killing another 14 people, mostly young women, one of whom, Colette Doherty, was nine months pregnant.

This brigade was founded in 1972 by UDR sergeant and permanent staff instructor (PSI) Billy Hanna, who had appointed himself its commander.

Mulholland engaged in carrying out a series of bombing attacks and therefore he became known to the authorities as a senior UVF member.

He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade and was a prime suspect in the 1974 Dublin car bombings.

He was named as the driver of the first of the three car bombs which exploded minutes apart in the city centre of Dublin on 17 May 1974 and left a total of 26 people dead and almost 300 injured.

He was identified from police file photographs by three separate eyewitnesses during the investigation into the bombings by the Garda Síochána.

According to journalist Joe Tiernan, he was offered immunity from prosecution by the Gardaí in exchange for information on his accomplices.

David Alexander Mulholland was born in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland and was brought up a Protestant.

He lived in the town's Killycomain estate and made his living as a butcher.

He also served as a part-time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

Mulholland had been raised in Mourneview Street in Portadown but had moved across town to the newly built Killycomain estate upon getting married.

According to the affidavit made by Special Patrol Group officer John Weir in 1999, the Dublin car bombings which took place in the city centre on Friday 17 May 1974 during evening rush hour were organised by Billy Hanna, who led two UVF bombing teams, one from Belfast, the other from his own Mid-Ulster Brigade.

The bombs were collected from a Glenanne, County Armagh farm where they had been constructed and stored.

Weir alleged that the farm, owned by Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) reservist James Mitchell, was used as a UVF arms dump and bomb-making site.

Journalist Joe Tiernan has suggested that the bombs were then placed onto a poultry lorry belonging to senior Mid-Ulster UVF member Robin Jackson, who drove it across the border into the Republic of Ireland and down to a carpark in the northern suburbs of Dublin.

He was accompanied by Hanna.

The two men met up with the rest of the bomb team and the vehicles which were to be used in the attacks.

After the bombs had been activated by Hanna, he and Jackson loaded the devices into the boots of the three designated cars that had been hijacked and stolen that morning in Belfast by a UVF gang known as "Freddie and the Dreamers", led by William "Frenchie" Marchant.