AN aviation investigator claims he has uncovered evidence which strongly suggests that the May 1941 German bombing of North Strand, Dublin, was not accidental.
Researching archive material in a Munich army base, Mr Leo Sheridan said he discovered that the raid, code-named Operation "Roman Helmet", was aimed at intimidating the government after a number of neutrality breaches.
Mr Sheridan, from Galway, who is in his mid-60s and based in France, also said that the number of casualties of the bombing could have been minimised had the Defence Forces - on receiving a "tip off" from British code breakers - called for full use of air-raid shelters.
Thirty-four people were killed outright, with 90 others seriously wounded; 25 houses were completely destroyed, with 300 damaged to such a degree that many hundreds became homeless.
Mr Sheridan claims the bombing was directed primarily at the Dublin fire stations which had assisted Belfast; it was also intended to bomb Aras an Uachtarain - President Douglas Hyde being the main target.
"With the English detailing accounts of Eire's fire-fighters racing over the Border to fight the bomb fires in Belfast, German Intelligence saw this as a sign of weakness. They wanted to teach the [Southern] Irish a lesson " Mr Sheridan said.
In the previous month, April 1941, the Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, had acceded to a call for help in fighting the bomb blazes in Belfast by sending fire tenders from Dublin, Drogheda and Dundalk.
Mr de Valera had dismissed Nazi complaints by stating that his government claimed sovereignty over Northern Ireland.
The Dornier (DO17) warplane carrying six bombs - three of which were primed - first targeted the North Strand fire station. It then attempted to pinpoint the Dorset Street station, but the bomb landed in the Liffey. Its final target was the President's residence in the Phoenix Park.
Mr Sheridan added that Dr Hyde, being a Protestant, was perceived by German Intelligence to have sympathies with Northern unionists.
"However, an artillery gunnery, having heard the plane, released some rounds and tailed its wing, forcing it to turn," Mr Sheridan said. "The plane then made a rendezvous signal with a Nazi submarine 10 miles south of Kish lighthouse that it had been interfered with from ground attack."
It is reported that the air crew responsible for dropping the bombs never returned to base. Ironically an Irish RAF man, Pilot Abercorn, reported to his commanding officers that he shot down the lone plane over the Irish Sea.