After the blast, the organisation issued a statement acknowledging responsibility, apologising to those who were harmed and stated that it was 'grave and distressing' but an 'accident' caused by the 'war situation'.

The two damaged carriages were transported to Queen's Quay in Belfast for forensic examination and were subsequently rebuilt, with one remaining in service until 2006 and the other until 2012.

[1] Of the dead, two were eventually named as 17-year-old Protestant student Mark Cochrane from Finaghy and the other a 35-year-old Belfast-based accountant and recent immigrant from Lagos, Nigeria, Max Olorunda, who had been visiting a client in Ballymena.

He left a wife Gabrielle, a Catholic nurse originally from Strabane, and three daughters; the youngest Jayne, is an author and a cross-community worker.

[3] In addition to the fireman, four people were injured, including Flynn, two teenagers treated for minor injuries and an older man who had suffered much more serious burns.

The IRA released a lengthy statement about the event, terming it a 'bombing tragedy', blaming the Royal Ulster Constabulary for their 'sickening and hypocritical ... collective activity of collaboration with the British forces' and stating: The explosion occurred prematurely and the intended target was not the civilians travelling on the train.

On 12 October 1978, 55-year-old Letitia McCrory was killed by an IRA bomb explosion on the Belfast-Dublin line near Belfast Central station.

[4] The CAIN database indicates that in the 1978 explosion, an inadequate warning was given thus not allowing authorities time to evacuate the train completely before the device detonated.

In sentencing you I am conscious you have suffered severe burns and scars, for the rest of your life which will be a grim reminder to you of the events of that day.