He ran to the kitchen and looked to the sky.

It was 8.30pm on 7July last year, still bright enough to see the massive Puma helicopter cutting through the balmy evening air. Frank watched with increasing trepidation as the helicopter flew a mile south of his house before descending to the ground, out of sight. A school principal who lived beside the border in north Co Louth all his life, Short knew enough to recognise trouble.

"I kept waiting for it to turn around and go back again, " he said, speaking to the Sunday Tribune last week. "Every now and then you'd see a helicopter fly over, but it always goes straight back north. This didn't. I saw it landing, and I ran to the phone and called the police."

The events that followed were flatly denied by British authorities for the next six months. It wasn't until last week that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, announced that the British government had finally admitted to the unauthorised incursion. An explanation for the incident has yet to come.

In Rasson, in north Louth, half-a-mile from the border, Blinne Cowan had just put her two baby daughters to bed. Her husband and son were away at a football match. She was on her own, watching TV, when she heard it. "It was like a screeching noise, " she said. "So close and so loud. The children started screaming and crying. I ran into the yard to see what was going on."

From outside her house, Blinne had a clear view of the main Castleblaney road. She watched as the helicopter landed in a nearby field, where 10 armed men disembarked before the helicopter took off and flew away. The road was soon full of empty parked cars, as motorists stopped to stare in disbelief.

"It seemed to be a mixture of the British army and the PSNI, " said Blinne. "They were tramping around the field with their guns cocked in the air. A big enough crowd had gathered, and they were shouting at them and telling them to leave. Then a few people started throwing stones. A few minutes later, the helicopter came back."

The armed men got back into the helicopter, which then rose to the air, and travelled over to where Blinne was still standing, aghast, in her yard.

"It hovered very low to the house, " she said. "I could see the men inside, with their guns. They were shouting at me, I couldn't hear their words. But they were putting up their fingers, and making horrible gestures. Then one of them took hold of the mounted rifle on the side of the helicopter, and he pointed it straight at me."

Blinne stood frozen to the spot. Like Frank Short, she knew enough from living near the border to recognise trouble.

"I was terrified, " she said. "It was so intimidating, and I felt so vulnerable and exposed.

When they started messing with the rifle, I just knew they could take a pop at me and then make up any story, like say I had some weapon in my hand or something."

Minutes later, the helicopter turned and went back to its base in Crossmaglen, leaving Blinne Cowan, Frank Short and other residents of north Co Louth frightened and angry. The local garda station was flooded with complaints. Local Sinn Fein councillor Tomas Sharkey was also notified immediately.

Two hours later, he met with Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs, Conor Lenihan.

By the following day, minister Dermot Ahern was in contact with the Northern office.

The British government denied everything. Even when faced with pictures and video footage of the helicopter, taken by witnesses on their mobile phones, there was a blank denial of the events.

Then, six months later, a file arrived to the Department of Foreign Affairs. "On 15 December, the British government admitted that the incursion had happened, but denied any inappropriate behaviour by the PSNI, " a spokeswoman for the department told the Sunday Tribune.

"The government regards unauthorised incursions into this jurisdiction as very serious, and the matter was raised with the British authorities. The gardai also investigated the incident."

On 1 January, 2006, Dermot Ahern made public the British admission. He said that the British security forces had "blatantly lied", and that the British authorities had now "apologised for the earlier denial". The minister also said he had concerns over the circumstances of the denial.

No explanation has yet been offered, much to the frustration of local residents.

"We knew that it happened, " said Tomas Sharkey.

"We don't need them to tell us that it happened. We need them to tell us why.

"There were 10 members of the British parachute regiment stomping around a field in Co Louth with guns. If anyone else did that, they'd be prosecuted. We want them to tell us what they were doing there, and we want them to be prosecuted. The Department of Foreign Affairs needs to make a photocopy of that file, and pass it onto Michael McDowell in the Department of Justice."

For Blinne Cowan, there is also little comfort in the recent British admission.

"It was totally infuriating that they were denying it, but it wasn't surprising, " she said.

"We still don't know why they were here, and I can think of no reason why they were hovering over me in particular.

An apology would be nice.

It'd be something."