[3] Earlier that day, a bank robbery had taken place in Callan, County Kilkenny; Seamus Quaid and a colleague, Donal Lyttleton, were sent to monitor Rogers's movements.

[4] Five Gardaí left to investigate and, upon their arrival at 33 Avonbeg Gardens, two of them forced their way inside, where they found a number of armed men counting the proceeds of a bank robbery.

Detective Tom Peters was also seriously injured and left both deaf and blind, whilst colleagues Jim Cannon, Ben Thornton and Gerry Bohan survived the attack unscathed.

It occurred just after President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh signed the Emergency Powers Bill into law, which during turbulent times aimed to increase the period of detention without charge from two to seven days.

Gardaí in Portlaoise received an anonymous phone call stating that subversive activity was ongoing at a disused house at Garryhinch, with a plot to kill local Fine Gael TD Oliver J.

[5] Cannon brought two uniformed Gardaí with him, Gerry Bohan and Michael Clerkin, and the two joined forces with Detectives Tom Peters and Ben Thornton on the way.

[5] The next day, the Minister for Defence Paddy Donegan, made what became known as his infamous "thundering disgrace" remarks, aimed at Ó Dálaigh for his actions regarding the Emergency Powers Bill.

On 24 November 1983, Englishman Don Tidey was delivering his 13-year-old daughter to school when on the road outside his home in south Dublin he was stopped at what appeared to be a Garda checkpoint, but was in fact a Provisional IRA trap.

[9] On 16 December, Inspector Séamus O'Hanlon's group recommenced their search following lunch in Drumcromin wood, near Derrada a few miles north of Ballinamore.