Frank McManus served as MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone from 1970 until 1974. He was elected on the 18th of January 1970, and as he recalls, the 18th came to have extraordinary significance in his political life. "I was elected on the 18th January 1970, jailed 18th January 1971, released on the 18th May 1971, and shot on the 18th of October 1973".

The shooting, which was attributed to the local UVF, happened on the Sligo road outside of Enniskillen as Frank was turning off the main road towards his house. Three shots were fired, two hitting the car.

Frank takes up the story; "I heard the noise, but thought I had driven over something, so I did the worst thing possible, and stopped. If the gunman hadn't already been away, I presented an easy target". It was only then that Frank realised he'd been shot. Luckily, he made a full recovery, all vital organs being missed.

What had made Frank a target, was his high profile as an MP. He was very active in the civil rights movement in Fermanagh, in the late 60's, and early 70's.

"Of course, in the early days, the army hadn't appeared. The euphemism they use all the time is that the army arrived here in support of the civil power, which sounds grand, and a sensible thing to do, except when you remember the civil power was the RUC and the B-specials, which were effectively the armed wing of the unionist party."

At the time, the British Army were cheered when they entered the nationalist areas of Belfast, and the Bogside in Derry.

Frank explains; "They were coming in, to hopefully stop the police and B-men running further amok - it was an amazing, frightening time".

However, this perception didn't last long. "It started to change very quickly, and it changed fundamentally with the curfew of the Falls road on July 3rd, 1970".

During the curfew, unionist ministers John Brooke and William Long were driven around the area in an army truck, as Frank says "...to see how the natives were behaving".

He goes on "The Falls road curfew was the first really major mistake the army made, and the fact that those ministers were brought around, just outraged people. The honeymoon period didn't last very long. The propaganda, which has been very successful, is that the army was holding a ring between two warring tribes. That was utter nonsense - never the situation, The army was here to defend Northern Ireland against the IRA; there was a war going on, it was the British Army on one side, and the IRA on the other. The British Army then decided to use all the dirty tricks they had learnt to perfection in all the other colonial wars they had fought".

As the tide of nationalist opinion began to turn against the army and 'Operation Banner', Frank recalls some of the earliest incidents of action against them. In jail from the 18th January 1971 to the 18th May 1971 for "...marching when I shouldn't have been marching" [at a banned civil rights march], one incident in particular stands out. "There was an explosion on Brougher mountain near Trillick when I was in jail, and there was a number killed in that explosion. I represented Fermanagh and South Tyrone, so that would have been my constituency. That's the first really serious incident I remember". [On Feb 9 1971, a landmine intended for an army patrol was set off by a civilian team inspecting the BBC mast on the mountain - all five in the vehicle were killed.]

"But the history of the British army is not good, not good at all. A number of very close friends of mine were killed, and there would have been no doubt at all it was by the army, or the UDR, which was part of the army.

Frank goes on: "But the history of the British army is not good, not good at all, A number of very close friends of mine were killed, and there would have been no doubt at all it was by the army, or the UDR, which was part of the army. Louis Leonard was shot at Derrylin, Jim Murphy, a very good friend of mine was found shot dead very close to where I live, Patsy Kelly from Trillick was found in a lake...they would all have been civil rights activists."

With regard to the murders of Michael Naan and Andrew Murray in 1972, for which two soldiers were subsequently convicted, Frank was sure from the start the army were responsible.

"I remember at the time saying to the papers and in parliament that this was the work of the army, and the reaction would have been that this was disgraceful '...slandering our brave boys in such a way'. But of course it was the army. I mean, the world and the crows knew it was the army. And they would have deliberately done that to strike the fear of God into the natives. There also would have been collusion between the army and police, and Loyalists. The RUC was just atrocious; the special branch ruled the roost, and they could do just what they liked."

In August 1972, just after 'Operation Motorman', where the army broke down the barricades of the no-go nationalist areas in Belfast and Derry, Frank walked out of parliament, in response to the 'military repression' in Northern Ireland.

When asked about army harassment and brutality, Frank recalls numerous incidents: " It died down in recent times, but in the early days it was serious, you know, the abuse of young fellas. If you were a young fella in this town at that time walking up the street, the police and soldiers came along, sat you up against the wall, and frisked you, in full view of the entire population. It never seemed to register with them that this was a stupid thing to do, because any young fella worth his salt is gonna say...'wait a minute, I'm not going to stand for this carry-on.

"They [the army] would arrive to search a house, there would be some resistance, and they would take into them - that was a fairly regular occurrence. They had this system of complaints, but it was a farce, a complete waste of time. There were a number of honourable exceptions of course, I mean, not every soldier was a bad guy, same as not every policeman was a bad guy."

Looking back over 'Operation Banner' Frank has his own opinions on the reasons for it. " For over thirty years, this has been the greatest training ground for any army, anywhere in the world. They have been able to practice all these low-intensity, counter-insurgency techniques on actual real people, at relatively low cost. No wonder the securocrats weren't too keen on the peace process, when they were going to be deprived of a tremendous facility, where they could practice on the natives."

Frank was also happy to dispel some of the propaganda, as he saw it, about the end of 'Operation Banner'.

"The army has successfully put it about that they are leaving, but they are not leaving. This is still an occupied part of Ireland. They went on that this was the longest campaign in the history of the British Army - 38 years, but that is also wrong, it was 838 years!"

So, for him, the ending of 'Operation Banner' holds little significance.