Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions (1970–1979)

This page is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, an Irish paramilitary group. Most of these actions occurred within the civil conflict known as The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

1970s

• 1970: IRA men use firearms to defend Clonard monastery in west Belfast, the Short Strand in east Belfast and other nationalist areas from attack by loyalist mobs. Several people killed in gun battles.
• July, 1970: Official IRA and Provisional IRA fight three day gun battle with 3000 British troops imposing a curfew on the Lower Falls area of Belfast, over 1,500 rounds fired by British troops.
• February 6, 1971: British soldier on security duties, Gunner Robert Curtis, killed by the IRA in current campaign in North Belfast. Three unarmed British soldiers abducted while off duty in Belfast and subsequently shot. IRA suspected but responsibility never admitted.
• 4 December 1971: The McGurk's Bar bombing kills 15 people. Although the IRA are intially blamed, it later emerges that the Ulster Volunteer Force is responsible.
• January 1972: Bloody Sunday Unrest in Derry culminates in action by British Paratroopers. The shooting by the soldiers resulted in the deaths of thirteen unarmed protestors. The resulting outrage gains the PIRA support from much more of the nationalist community than it previously enjoyed.
• 22 February 1972: In a "revenge" attack for Bloody Sunday, the IRA detonate a car bomb outside the headquarters of the Parachute Regiment in Aldershot, killing seven people. See 1972 Aldershot Bombing.
• 21 July 1972: On "Bloody Friday" 22 bombs kill nine and seriously injure 130. 30 years later the IRA would officially apologise for this set of attacks. [Northern Ireland]
• December, 1972: Mother of ten, Jean McConville, is abducted and killed by the Provisional IRA, allegedly for informing the British Army of IRA activities, although her family contend that she was killed for comforting a wounded British soldier. The IRA would deny any involvement in the killing until the 1990s, when it would acknowledge its action and attempt to locate the body. [Northern Ireland]
• 31 July 1972: Three car bomb explode in the Claudy bombings, in which nine people are killed on Claudy High Street near Londonderry. The IRA have always denied involvement, but neutral observers believe they were responsible.
• 4 February 1974: M62 Coach Bombing: A bomb planted on a coach carrying British Army personnel and their wives and families explodes as it is travelling along the M62 motorway at Birkenshaw. Twelve people are killed; nine soldiers and the wife and two young sons of one of them. [England]
• October 5, 1974: The Guildford pub bombings kills five and injures 182. The motive for the bombing was that the pub attacked was frequented by off-duty, unarmed soldiers. Four people, dubbed the "Guildford Four", would be convicted for the bombing and imprisoned for life. Fifteen years later Lord Lane of the Court of Appeal would overturn their convictions noting "the investigating officers must have lied". Some had spent the entire fifteen years in prison, years after the IRA men who carried out the attacks admitted them to British police. No police officer was ever charged. [England]
• November 7, 1974: Two people are killed when a nail bomb containing 6lb of gelignite is thrown through the window of the Kings Head pub in Woolwich
• November 21, 1974: In the Birmingham Pub Bombings bombs in two pubs kill 19. The "Birmingham Six" would be tried for this and convicted. Many years later, after new evidence of police fabrication and suppression of evidence, their convictions would be quashed and they would be released. [England]
• 1974: In December a bomb explodes on the first floor of Harrods department store in Knightsbridge. Part of the store is gutted but there are no injuries. [England]
• February 27, 1975: Off-duty police officer Stephen Tibble is shot dead[1] as he joins in the chase of a suspect on his motorbike in Barons Court, London. The suspect had been spotted by a detective coming out of a house which was later discovered to be an IRA bomb factory.
• November 27, 1975: The killing[2] of businessman and TV personality Ross McWhirter, who with his brother Norris McWhirter, had offered reward money to anyone who would inform on the IRA.
• December 7–12, 1975: The Balcombe Street Siege.
• August 1975: Caterham pub bombing.
• January 5, 1976: IRA kills ten Protestant workers in the Kingsmill massacre, county Armagh in retaliation for loyalist killings of Catholics.
• July 21, 1976: An IRA landmine kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the newly appointed British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, resulting in the declaration of a State of Emergency in the Republic. The IRA also threatens to kidnap or kill Irish cabinet ministers and the President of Ireland.
• 17 February 1978: The La Mon Restaurant Bombing kills twelve people and guts the hotel in Belfast. The IRA claim responsibility.
• 22 March 1979: Sir Richard Sykes, British Ambassador to The Netherlands is assassinated in front of his house in The Hague.
• August 27, 1979: An IRA bomb kills Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the British Queen's first cousin, members of his family and a local child off the Irish coast. On the same day the IRA kill 18 British soldiers at Narrow Water, near Newry, County Down; in an attack described by the British government as "a classic guerrilla attack", they first plant one bomb, which kills six, and then begin firing with sniper rifles at soldiers, driving them to cover at a nearby gate where a second bomb explodes, killing 12 others. During an Irish visit, Pope John Paul II calls for the IRA campaign of violence to come to an end. [Ireland]

1980s

• 1981: IRA prisoner Bobby Sands, imprisoned in connection with his involvement in an attack involving a bomb and subsequent gun battle, is elected Member of Parliament at Westminster for the Northern Ireland constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone in a by-election. The moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party decides not to run a candidate (which would have split the nationalist vote), in protest of the British government's handling of the protest. This left Sands as the main nationalist candidate. Sands had been on a hunger strike for "Prisoner of War" or Special Category Status for 41 days prior to being elected. He died 23 days later. It was estimated that 100,000 people attended his funeral. IRA prisoners were ultimately de facto awarded political status by Margaret Thatcher's government, after nine more deaths by hunger strike. [Northern Ireland]
• 1981: The PIRA kill Ulster Unionist Party Belfast MP Rev Robert Bradford along with the caretaker of a community centre. Irish Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald and former taoiseach and opposition leader Charles Haughey condemn the killings in Dáil Éireann. SDLP party leader John Hume accuses the Provisionals of waging a campaign of "sectarian genocide". [Northern Ireland]
• 10 October 1981: a bomb blast on Ebury Bridge Road in London kills two people and injures 39. [England]
• 26 October 1981: a bomb explodes at a Wimpy Bar in Oxford Street London killing the bomb disposal officer trying to defuse it. [England]
• 20 July 1982: The Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings: In Hyde Park, a bomb kills two members of the Household Cavalry performing ceremonial duties in the park. Seven of their horses are also killed. The deaths of the horses received almost as much coverage in the English tabloids as those of the men. On the same day another device kills seven bandsmen the Royal Green Jackets as it explodes underneath the bandstand in Regents Park as they played music to spectators. [England]
• 1983: A Harrods department store bomb planted by the IRA during Christmas shopping season kills six (three police) and wounds 90. [England]
• September 25 1983: 38 IRA prisoners escape from the maximum security Long Kesh prison. One guard dies of a heart attack during the escape.
• 1984: In the Brighton hotel bombing a bomb in the Grand Hotel kills five in a failed attempt to assassinate members of the British cabinet. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher narrowly escapes. Five people are killed, and one woman permanently disabled. [England]
• 1985 February, IRA mortar attack on RUC police station in Newry kills 9 Police Officers
• 1987: The SAS ambush two IRA cells as they attempted to attack an Royal Ulster Constabulary police station in Loughgall. Eight IRA men are killed. Sinn Féin later claim that they were "brutally executed without the right to a trial". [Northern Ireland]
• 1987: In the Enniskillen "Massacre" the IRA bombing of a Remembrance Day parade kills 11 civilians and injures 63. Among the dead is nurse Marie Wilson, whose father, Gordon Wilson, would go on to become a leading campaigner for an end to violence in Northern Ireland. The IRA would later state that their target was a colour guard of British soldiers, and stand down the local brigade. On Remembrance Day 1997 the leader of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, formally apologised for the bombing. [Northern Ireland]
• 1988: The SAS attack an IRA cell that were planning to detonate a bomb near a public military parade in Gibraltar. Two men, Daniel McCann and Sean Savage, and a woman Mairead Farrell, all unarmed, were killed. Although initial reports claimed the three terrorists had been shot dead when about to set off a massive car bomb, within 24 hours the Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, was forced to admit this was not the case. However, a car used by the bombers was found in Marbella two days after the killings containing 140 lb of Semtex, timed to go off during the changing of the guard. [Gibraltar]. At the funeral of the three IRA volunteers, Michael Stone, a member of the Ulster Freedom Fighters(UFF), launched hand grenades during the graveside oration, killing a further three people. One week later, two British soldiers in civilian clothes who drove too close to an IRA funeral were killed because the mourners believed them to be launching an attack like Michael Stone's [3].
• 1989: Ten Royal Marine bandsmen are killed and 22 injured in the bombing of their base in Deal in Kent. [England]

1990s

• 1990: Car bombings in Northern Ireland kill seven and wound 37. [Northern Ireland]
• 27 May 1990: Two Australian tourists shot dead in the Netherlands, having been mistaken for off-duty British soldiers from a base across the German border.
• July 20 1990: The IRA exploded a large bomb at the London Stock Exchange causing massive damage.
• 30 July 1990 Ian Gow MP is killed when a device explodes under his car as he is leaving his home. [England]
• September 19 1990: The IRA attempted to kill Air Chief Marshall Sir Peter Terry at his Staffordshire home. Sir Peter had been a prime target since his days as Governor of Gibraltar, where he signed the documents allowing the SAS to pursue IRA terrorists. The revenge attack took place at 9pm at the Main Road house. The gunman opened fire through a window hitting Sir Peter at least 9 times and injuring his wife, Lady Betty Terry, near the eye. The couple's daughter, Liz, was found suffering from shock. Sir Peter's face had to be rebuilt as the shots shattered Sir Peter's face and 2 high-velocity bullets lodged a fraction of an inch from his brain. [England]
• 1990: A British Royal Artillery officer is killed by the IRA in Dortmund in the then West Germany.
• 18 February 1991: A bomb explodes at Victoria Station. One man is killed and 38 people injured. [England]
• 1991: Mortar attack on members of the British Cabinet and the Prime Minister, John Major in Cabinet session at Number 10 Downing Street at the height of a huge security clampdown amid the Gulf War is launched by the IRA. The Cabinet collectively got under the table to protect themselves. [England]
• 1991: Two IRA members are killed in St Albans when their bomb detonates prematurely. [England]
• 28 February 1992: A bomb explodes at London Bridge railway station injuring 29 people. [England]
• 10 April 1992: A large bomb explodes at 30 St Mary Axe in the City of London killing three people and injuring 91. Many buildings are heavily damaged and the Baltic Exchange is completely destroyed. [England]
• 12 October 1992: A device explodes in the gents' toilet of the Sussex Arms public house in Covent Garden killing one person and injuring four others. [England]
• 1992: Eight builders are killed by an IRA bomb on their way to work at an army base near Omagh. [Northern Ireland]
• 1993: Two IRA bombs at opposite ends of a shopping street in Warrington, timed to go off within minutes of each other, kill two children. [England]
• 1993: The PIRA detonates a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, which kills two and causes around £350m of damage, including the near destruction of St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate. [England]
• 1993: The Shankill Road bombing at a fish and chip shop underneath a UDA office on the Protestant Shankill Road in Belfast detonates prematurely, killing ten, including one of the bombers and two children. [Northern Ireland]
• 8 March 1994: Heathrow Airport, four mortar shells were fired toward Heathrow Airport from a car at night following telephone warnings in the name of the IRA, but police said none of the shells exploded and no injuries were reported.
• 10 March 1994: Heathrow Airport evacuated staff and passengers from Terminal Four and closed its southern runway after the second attack on the airport in 30 hours. No one was hurt when four mortar shells were fired.
• 13 March 1994: Heathrow Airport, the IRA launched their third mortar attack on Heathrow defying tightening security. They fired four mortar bombs from a heavily camouflaged launcher buried in scrubland close to the southern perimeter. Later that night both Heathrow and Gatwick airports were closed for 2 hours after renewed coded telephoned bomb threats were received.
• 1 September 1994: The PIRA declares the first of two ceasefires in the 1990s.

  

  This postbox in Manchester survived the IRA bombing in 1996.

• 10 February 1996: The IRA ends its 1994 ceasefire, killing two civilians in a bombing adjacent to the South Quay DLR station in London's Docklands. [England]
• 15 February 1996: A 5 lb bomb placed in a phone booth is disarmed by Police on the Charing Cross Road in London.
• 18 February 1996: An improvised high explosive device detonates prematurely on a bus travelling along Aldwych in central London, killing Edward O'Brien, the IRA operative transporting the device and injuring eight others. [England]
• 15 June 1996: The IRA detonates a 3,300 lb (1,500 kg) bomb in Manchester, injuring 206 people and damaging 70,000 square metres of retail and office space. [England]
• 7 October 1996: the IRA kills one soldier and injures 31 people at the British Army's Northern Ireland HQ, Thiepval Barracks. [Northern Ireland]
• 19 July 1997: The IRA declares a second ceasefire.
• 1998 January, IRA kills loyalist UDA paramilitary Bobby Dougan in retaliation for killings of Catholics. Sinn Féin temporarily excluded from peace talks.
• 1999 Former IRA man Eamon Collins killed by IRA near Newry for testifying against Thomas "Slab" Murphy, leader of South Armagh IRA in a libel case with the Sunday Times.

2000s

• 2 February 2005: The IRA issues a statement summarizing their "ambitious initiatives designed to develop or save the peace process", including three occasions in which they had complied with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning in putting weapons "beyond use". The statement of 2 February goes on to say, "At this time it appears that the two governments are intent on changing the basis of the peace process. They claim that 'the obstacle now to a lasting and durable settlement… is the continuing terrorist and criminal activity of the IRA'. We reject this. It also belies the fact that a possible agreement last December was squandered by both governments pandering to rejectionist unionism instead of upholding their own commitments and honouring their own obligations." The statement concluded with two points: "We are taking all our proposals off the table." and "It is our intention to closely monitor ongoing developments and to protect to the best of our ability the rights of republicans and our support base."
• 3 February 2005: Following statements from the British and Irish governments, claiming that the new IRA statement was no cause for alarm, the IRA issues a second two-sentence statement: "The two governments are trying to play down the importance of our statement because they are making a mess of the peace process. Do not underestimate the seriousness of the situation."
• 10 February 2005: The Independent Monitoring Commission reports that it firmly supports the PSNI and Garda assessments that the PIRA was responsible for the Northern Bank robbery and recommends financial and political sanctions against Sinn Féin.
• 27 February 2005: Republicans in East Belfast hold a rally to demand justice following the murder of Robert McCartney.
• 17 March 2005: Sinn Féin is boycotted by United States president George W. Bush, Senator Edward Kennedy and leading Irish Americans during St. Patrick's Day celebrations because of the involvement of IRA members in the murder of Robert McCartney.
• 6 April 2005: Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams calls on the IRA to initiate consultations "as quickly as possible" to move from being a paramilitary organisation to one committed to purely non-military methods.
• 25 May 2005: British Intelligence claims that the IRA are still recruiting and training new members. A large number of new recruits are being trained in firearms and explosives and are also involved in "dry runs", practicing the targeting of their enemies.
• 28 July 2005: The IRA release a statement that it is ending its armed campaign and will verifiably put its arms beyond use. [4]
• 25 September 2005: International weapons inspectors supervise the full disarmament of the IRA.
• February 2006: International weapons inspectors believe that not all arms were decomissioned on the day the IRA disarmed. Claims begins to circulate that the IRA actually held onto a few handguns and various other weapons.