Tag Archives: Declan Flynn

Last night.

Dublin LGBTQ Pride tweeted:

On this day in 1983 the killers of Declan Flynn walked free. Eleven days later the first large-scale protest against LGBT+ discrimination in Ireland took place. Hundreds of people marched from Liberty Hall to Fairview Park. Dublin’s Stonewall moment, it led to the first Dublin Pride Parade in June [1983]..

Previously: A Fairer View

Declan Flynn (top), whose death in Fairview Park in 1982 ,is commemorated by a footbridge (above) ,The Flynn Memorial Bridge adjacent to the park

Ultan Mashup writes:

An important 2015 episode of Scannal went up on RTÉ Player last night: The Death of Declan Flynn

This is a A look back at the killing of Declan Flynn in Fairview 1982 and the “social, political and legal impact the homophobic crime and subsequent trial had on Ireland”.

It is a very difficult watch but a must watch and gives an insight into attitudes at that time that are shocking.

NB: – this program is unavailable outside of Irish IP geo areas. It’s a bilingual program with the Gaeilge parts subtitled in English.

Watch here

Previously: Declan Flynn on Broadsheet

In 1982 during the summer a series of systematic beatings was carried out in Fairview Park, Dublin. Gay men used the park as a meeting place and for cruising.

On September 10, the gang attacked 31-year-old Aer Rianta worker Declan Flynn. One of the gang was used as ‘bait’ and when Flynn sat down next to him on the bench, the other four rushed out from behind trees.

Their victim managed to run towards the gate and the main road but did not get out of the park in time. They kicked and beat him with sticks and left Declan Flynn lying on the path choking on his own blood. He died within an hour of admission to Blanchardstown Hospital.

His attackers ” were all part of the team to get rid of queers in Fairview Park.”

In March 1983, in court, Justice Sean Gannon gave them suspended sentences for manslaughter and allowed the five to walk free. “This,” he said, “could never be regarded as murder.”

The Night They Killed Declan Flynn (Maggie O’Kane, Magill, 1983)

Dublin: The Fairview Park Murders and the Declan Flynn murder case (Gay History)

Thanks Derrick Howard