Another reason as to why the Hunger Strikes were so significant was how it showed a new political side to the IRA with Sinn Fein. The IRA’s political wing – Sinn Fein – showed that the IRA was not only about bombing and shooting, that it could also come to an agreement of its future via politics. “She believed she was watching the birth of another mass movement like the civil rights movement 11 years earlier” – a quote from ‘Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Hunger Strikes.’ This shows how the good publicity the IRA received was fuelling the political wing of the IRA – Sinn Fein – into using politics. Before Bobby Sands’ death in 1981, he stood as an independent candidate, and was elected to the British Parliament. A quote by Daithi O’Conaill, Sinn Fein, December 1981 “Ten people had the courage to stand by their country to the point of dying for it. The Republican movement gained enormously in the number of people who joined.” This quote suggests that Sinn Fein used the death of Bobby Sands to great effect, even thought he did stand as an independent candidate. This then led to Sinn Fein becoming a mainstream political party. The rise in support for Sinn Fein after the Hunger Strikes was to have dramatic consequences on Northern Ireland.
All of these factors together, contribute to the significance of the Hunger Strikes, however, when saying it was the most significant IRA action, an extract from the textbook ‘The struggle for peace in Northern Ireland’ by Ben Walsh says “Against the wishes of the IRA leaders outside the maze, he initiated the second set of Hunger Strikes in 1981.” Consequently, it could be argued that the Hunger Strikes weren’t the most significant IRA action of that decade, because it wasn’t the IRA’s action, it was that of Bobby Sands. When the IRA saw the publicity the Hunger Strikes were collecting, they then soon took credit for it. Also, when arguing the significance of the Hunger Strikes, an extract from ‘Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike’ says “four months before, 10,000 had taken part in the march which had marked the beginning of the first Hunger Strike” and “Today, only 3500 were taking part” These quotes suggest that people believed that this Hunger Strike was not as significant as the last, and didn’t think it would lead to anything big, like the withdrawal of Britain from Ireland.
Another IRA event that was significant in the 1980’s was the Long War. The Long war was a war of attrition, designed to wear down the other side. Such events, for example; the Enniskillen Bombing, punishment beatings and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) deaths, made the Long War also a fairly significant IRA event of the 1980’s.
An extract from New York Times report on Remembrance Day bombing by the IRA in Enniskillen states that “One of its bombs killed 11 people at a memorial service for veterans in Enniskillen last Saturday.” This shows just how far the IRA was willing to go, that they even bombed a Remembrance Day service. The Long War can be seen as being significant because it showed everyone that the IRA was serious about their cause. However, the source goes on to say that the IRA issued its second apology in 5 years because of the incident. This event in itself was very significant because it could be said that the IRA saw the bad publicity it was getting from this event, that they blamed the bomb detonation on an ‘accidental detonation, meant for its preferred targets, the British army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.’
The IRA receiving international support also made this event very significant. An extract from the daily telegraph in 2011, talks about the Libyan help the IRA received. “The Villa shipment was to transform the IRA’s ability to wage war against the British state.” This shows that the IRA’s contacts were growing, therefore, with the more help they received, the more dangerous they could become. The quote also shows how the IRA was growing as a paramilitary group; in regards to the fact they thought that they were becoming strong enough to change the British involvement with Ireland.
The Long War was also significant because it lead to the deaths of many RUC officers. The IRA knew what effects killing RUC members would have, however, they felt it was the correct thing to do. An extract from ‘Families at War’ By Peter Taylor tells the story of three different families affected by the troubles in Northern Ireland. This extract is about the IRA commander Padraig McKearney. “RUC stations were attacked and mortared,” “Between 1984 and 1986, there had been over seventy attacks on RUC establishments and more than thirty five policemen killed.” This was significant because not only were the IRA causing destruction to the political world, they were now killing Policemen.
The final reason as to why the Long war was a significant IRA action of the 1980’s was that it led to Sinn Fein leader – Gerry Adams and The Social Democratic and Labour party (SDLP) leader –John Hume- talking about peace. An article from the BBB Website ‘Provisional IRA: War, Ceasefire and Endgame?’ states “SDLP leader John Hume initiated talks with Jerry Adams in an attempt to end republican violence. The talks between the two men would form the foundation of the peace process to come.” This is a very significant event for the IRA, as it was an indication that what they were doing was working, and it was wearing down the opposition – as it was designed to.
However, it could be seen that the Long War was in fact not significant. From the BBC Website ‘Provisional IRA: War, ceasefire and endgame?’ it says “But security forces were also hitting the IRA hard, killing an eight-strong unit who attacked a police station in 1987.” Therefore it could be argued that because their violent actions led to their own member being killed by the Protestants, it was not as significant as other events, such as the Hunger Strikes.
The IRA aims relied on “Armalite and Ballot Box.” They believed that by using a mixture of forceful methods, such as bombings and shootings, and peaceful methods, such as politics, they could get the enemy personnel to withdraw. Bobby Sands campaign was an eye opener for the IRA. They saw that people voted for him, something they never thought would happen, so they realised that they could also use peaceful methods to wear down the opposition. When linking the Hunger Strikes and The Long war, it’s clear how both intertwine with the IRA’s method of Armalite and Ballot Box. For example, without Bobby Sands’ death by the Hunger Strikes, Sinn Fein wouldn’t have ever received the publicity that it did, therefore the IRA would never have gotten into politics, so wouldn’t have carried out the peaceful side of its protest. Therefore, the more forceful side of the paramilitary group was the long war, with the constant bombings and murders. For example, an extract from ‘The Long War: IRA and Sinn Fein’ Tells of how in the month of April, 1897, there was 2 deaths and 15 injuries. There were also 24 shootings recorded. This shows the depth of the IRA’s activities.
The Final significant IRA event of the 1980’s was the Brighton Bombings. These bombing almost killed the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her husband. The bomb was detonated by the IRA with the intention to hurt politics.
The bomb had an extremely devastating effect on the conservative party. The bomb showed just how dangerous the IRA could be if they wanted to. Richard English, Professor of politics at Queen’s University, Belfast, writing about the significance of the bombings “The significance of the bombings lies not on its impact on the emergence of a peace process, but rather in its demonstration of lethal capacity of the IRA to produce devastating political violence, and in the awful suffering that was inflicted on the actual victims of the bomb.” This one of the very first times that the IRA had tried to directly harm the government and this is one of the reasons why the Long War was so significant.
Another reason for the significance of the Brighton Bombings was that it actually killed members of the political party, and could be seen as the IRA taking things too far. The Judge responsible for sentencing the planter of the bomb stated “You intended to wipe out a large part of the government and you nearly did.” So it was clear that IRA had its clear intentions and wanted Thatcher dead. I think that how close Margaret Thatcher came to death certainly dropped her confidence levels, especially with the IRA saying “We only have to get lucky once, you have to be lucky always.” This certainly made Thatcher worry, which could have been the reason for the final point – seeing Thatcher follow through with her peace treaties.
The final reason why the Brighton Bombings were so significant was that it saw Thatcher follow through with her peace treaties. By Thatcher getting up to give a speech the next morning shows how she wanted to resolve things. A BBC News clip on the Brighton Bombings quotes Thatcher “Life must go on as usual.” This shows us that she wanted to turn away from the IRA. 1985 saw the Anglo-Irish agreement. This was the start of the peace process. The fact that Thatcher actually took action and followed through with her peace treaties was very significant indeed.
