the Springfield Road and Gallahers on York Road were thwarted when loyalist paramilitaries turned up at the premises ordering everybody out and throwing petrol bombs. Workers were largely untouched in predominantly Catholic towns such as Strabane as the loyalist paramilitaries had no structure in place to launch an intimidation campaign but even in these locations work was severely disrupted as electricity supplies proved highly unreliable. A political response to the strike began to develop slowly. In the British House of Commons at Westminster the UWC strike featured as the main subject of Northern Ireland 'question time'. Merlyn Rees met with loyalists leaders at the Northern Ireland Parliament but insisted that he would not negotiate with the UWC. Meanwhile, Executive member Paddy Devlin threatened to resign over the continuing use of internment. A Catholic civilian, Maureen Moore (21), was shot dead by a loyalist sniper as she stood at the corner of Stratheden Street and Edlingham Street in Belfast. A witness said the gunman, believed to be from the UDA, emerged from the Protestant Tiger's Bay area. One woman said there had been sporadic trouble in the area that day and complained that the British Army had done little to stop UDA activity. The army was also engaged in the New Lodge are of north Belfast, breaking up riots between Catholic residents and their Protestant neighbours in Tiger's Bay. 17 May: Day three of the strike Dublin and Monaghan bombings – the UVF exploded four car bombs in the Republic of Ireland. The attacks killed 33 civilians and wounded almost 300 – the highest number of casualties in any single day during "the Troubles". No warnings were given before the bombs were detonated. Three exploded in Dublin during rush hour (killing 26 people and an unborn child) and one exploded in Monaghan 90 minutes later (killing 7 people). Most of the victims were young women, although the ages of the dead ranged from five months to 80 years. There are allegations that British Intelligence colluded in the bombings. Sammy Smyth, then press officer of both the UDA and the UWC Strike Committee, said "I am very happy about the bombings in Dublin. There is a war with the [Republic of Ireland] and now we are laughing at them". In the strike itself postal delivery services were halted following intimidation of Royal Mail workers. However the Executive put in place arrangements to