Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape

The escape made headlines around the world and was an embarrassment to the Irish coalition government of the time, led by Fine Gael's Liam Cosgrave, which was criticised by opposition party Fianna Fáil.

A manhunt involving twenty thousand members of the Irish Defence Forces and Garda Síochána was launched for the escapees, one of whom, Seamus Twomey, was not recaptured until December 1977.

[3] From there, they would scale a rope ladder thrown over the exterior wall by members of the IRA's Dublin Brigade who would have a getaway car waiting to complete the escape.

[4] The IRA's GHQ staff approved the plan to break out Twomey, O'Hagan and Mallon, and arrangements were made to obtain a helicopter.

[7] Shortly after 3:35 pm the helicopter swung in to land in the prison yard, with Kevin Mallon directing the pilot using semaphore.

[9] A prison officer on duty initially took no action as he believed the helicopter contained the Minister for Defence, Paddy Donegan.

[10] The escape made headlines around the world and was an embarrassment for Cosgrave's government, which was criticised for "incompetence in security matters" by opposition party Fianna Fáil.

[6][11][12] An emergency debate on security was held in Dáil Éireann on 1 November, where leader of the opposition Jack Lynch stated: It is poetic justice that a helicopter is now at the heart of the Government's embarrassment and in the centre of their dilemma.

[11] Cosgrave stated there would be "no hiding place" for the escapees, and a manhunt involving twenty thousand members of the Irish Defence Forces and Garda Síochána ensued.

[17] Twomey evaded recapture until 2 December 1977, when he was spotted sitting in a car in Sandycove by members of the Garda's Special Branch who were investigating an arms shipment after a tip-off from police in Belgium.