Remembrance Day bombing

{{Short description|1987 Provisional IRA terror attack in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland}}

{{Infobox civilian attack

| title = Remembrance Day bombing

| partof = the Troubles

| image = News6905.jpg

| caption = The aftermath of the bombing

| map = {{Location map|UK Northern Ireland

|relief = yes

|width = 250

|lat = 54.34416

|long = -7.63416

|marksize = 5

|caption =

}}

| location = Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland

| coordinates = {{Coord|54|20|40|N|07|38|05|W|region:GB_scale:5000_type:event|display=inline,title}}

| date = {{start date and age|1987|11|8|df=yes}}

| time = 10:43

| timezone = GMT

| type = Time bomb

| weapons =

| fatalities = 12{{efn|Including one man who died in 2000 after entering a coma due to the bombing.}}

| injuries = 63

| perp = Provisional IRA

| susperp =

}}

The Remembrance Day bombing (also known as the Enniskillen bombing or Poppy Day massacre){{cite web|url=http://www.entemp.ie/press/2001/180901.htm|title=Dail Remarks by Mary Harney, T.D., Tánaiste and Leader of the Progressive Democrats in Response to the Recent Terrorist Attacks on the United States|access-date=7 May 2008|author=Mary Harney|author-link=Mary Harney|year=2001|publisher=DETE press release|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120075202/http://www.entemp.ie/press/2001/180901.htm|archive-date=20 November 2007}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/apr/23/uk.northernireland |title=Gadaffi sued by 160 victims of IRA|access-date=7 May 2008|author=Henry McDonald|date=23 April 2006|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London}} took place on 8 November 1987 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. A Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded near the town's war memorial (cenotaph) during a Remembrance Sunday ceremony, which was being held to commemorate British military war dead. Eleven people (10 civilians and a police officer) were initially killed, many of them elderly. A twelfth man was fatally wounded, entering a coma from which he would later die, and 63 were injured. The IRA said it had made a mistake and that its target had been the British soldiers parading to the memorial.

The bombing was strongly condemned by all sides and undermined support for the IRA and Sinn Féin. It also facilitated the passing of the Extradition Act, which made it easier to extradite IRA suspects from the Republic of Ireland to the United Kingdom. Loyalist paramilitaries responded to the bombing with revenge attacks on Catholic civilians.McKittrick, David. Lost Lives: The stories of the men, women and children who died as a result of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Random House, 2001. pp.1094–1099 The bombing is often seen as a turning point in the Troubles, an incident that shook the IRA "to its core",{{cite web|url=http://www.bbcactive.com/BroadcastLearning/MediaSupportFiles/Age%20of%20Terror%20synopses.pdf |title=Educational Television Programmes for lectures, training seminars and exhibitions |publisher=BBC Active |date=14 September 2010|access-date=29 December 2010}}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/age_of_terror/7306395.stm|title=Age of Terror|access-date=7 May 2008|format=Television Documentary|work=BBC|date=25 March 2008}} and spurred on new efforts by Irish nationalists towards a political solution to the conflict.Dawson, Graham. Making Peace with the Past?: Memories, Trauma and the Irish Troubles. Manchester University Press, 2007. p.288

Background and planning

The IRA said that the bombing was an attempt to kill British soldiers. It has also been suggested that it was partly a retaliation for the alleged harassment of Republican memorial services by the security forces.Liam Clarke & Kathryn Johnston. Martin McGuinness: From Guns to Government. Mainstream, 2003. p.189 A week before the bombing, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) clashed with mourners at the funeral of IRA volunteers Eddie McSheffrey and Paddy Deery. When an IRA gunman fired a three-volley salute over the coffins, police baton charged and fired plastic bullets into the crowd. One of the coffins was knocked to the ground and a number of civilians and officers were injured.[http://www.derryjournal.com/news/25th-anniversary-of-ira-volunteers-paddy-deery-and-eddie-mcsheffrey-1-4415653 25th anniversary of IRA volunteers Paddy Deery and Eddie McSheffrey]. Derry Journal. 27 October 2000.[https://apnews.com/bcef960c230f15ea2a9e5470fed2fbf7 Police Fire Rubber Bullets in Melee at IRA Funeral]. Associated Press news archive. 2 November 1987.McVeigh, Joe. Taking a Stand: Memoir of an Irish Priest. Mercier Press, 2008. pp.216–217

The bombing was thought by the British and Irish security forces to have involved at least two IRA units, from both sides of the border.{{cite web|url=http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Sunday_Tribune/arts2007/oct28_Enniskillen_airbrush__SBreen.php|title=Attempt to airbrush Enniskillen from history|access-date=7 May 2008|author=Suzanne Breen|date=28 October 2007|work=Sunday Tribune|publisher=Nuzhound}} Although IRA units were given "a degree of operational autonomy" at the time, they believed that such a bombing must have been sanctioned by IRA Northern Command.{{fv|date=January 2021}} However, a high-ranking IRA member said that it was suggested by IRA men at the local level and sanctioned by a "middle level" officer.[https://apnews.com/61973ff2d09ef7925a981f7ee2ea991f "Police: IRA Planted Bomb in Town Near Enniskillen That Didn't Explode"] (11 November 1987). Associated Press News Archive. Retrieved 5 November 2012.

Denzil McDaniel, author of Enniskillen: The Remembrance Sunday Bombing, later interviewed security and IRA contacts, putting together an account of the bombers' movements. He wrote that the {{convert|40|lb|kg|adj=on}} bomb was made in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, and brought to Enniskillen by up to thirty IRA volunteers, moving in relay teams to avoid security patrols. It is thought to have taken over 24 hours to transport the bomb. On the night of 7 November, the bomb, hidden in a sports bag, was left at the gable wall inside the town's Reading Rooms, and set to explode at 10:43 am the next day,{{fv|date=January 2021}}House of Commons Official Report 9 November 1987 Column 19{{full citation needed|date=January 2021}} minutes before the ceremony was to start.{{cite web|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1113/breaking20.html|title=IRA bombing relatives join service |access-date=28 August 2012|date=13 November 2011|publisher=The Irish Times}} The security forces searched the route of the planned military parade for explosives, but did not search the Reading Rooms as it was thought to be a "secure area".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1987/nov/09/northernireland.davidhearst|title=Ulster terrorist bomb kills 11|access-date=28 August 2012|author=David Hearst|date=9 November 2007|newspaper=The Guardian}}

Explosion

File:CenotaphBelmoreStEnniskillen.JPG

The bomb exploded as a parade of Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers was making its way to the memorial and as people waited for the ceremony to begin. It blew out the wall of the Reading Rooms, where many of the victims were standing, burying them under rubble and hurling masonry towards the gathered crowd.{{fv|date=January 2021}} Bystanders rushed to free those trapped underneath. Evidence indicated that the bomb used in the attack was made from Semtex supplied by the Libyan government under Muammar Gaddafi.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-55612089|title=The 38-year connection between Irish republicans and Gaddafi|date=23 February 2011|publisher=BBC News}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-55612089|title=Libyan weapons: IRA victims 'abandoned' over compensation report delay|date=11 January 2021|author=Julian O'Neill|publisher=BBC News}}{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmniaf/1723/172304.htm|title=Government support for UK victims of IRA attacks that used Gaddafi-supplied Semtex and weapons|date=9 April 2019|website=www.parliament.uk}}{{cite web|url=https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/120/northern-ireland-affairs-committee/news/153005/report-on-compensation-for-gaddafibacked-ira-attack-victims-to-be-focus-of-committee-session/|title=Report on compensation for Gaddafi-backed IRA attack victims to be focus of Committee session|website=committees.parliament.uk/|date=22 March 2021}}

Eleven people were killed, including three married couples. The dead were Wesley and Bertha Armstrong (aged 62 and 55), Kit and Jessie Johnston (aged 71 and 62), William and Agnes Mullan (aged 74 and 73), John Megaw (67), Alberta Quinton (72), Marie Wilson (20), Samuel Gault (49) and Edward Armstrong (52). Edward Armstrong was a serving RUC officer and Gault had recently left the force.Ryder, Chris. The RUC: A Force Under Fire. Mandarin, 1990. p. 357 Gordon Wilson, whose daughter Marie died in the blast and who was himself injured, went on to become a peace campaigner and member of Seanad Éireann. The twelfth fatality, Ronnie Hill, died after spending 13 years in a coma (aged almost 69). Sixty-three people were injured, including thirteen children, some of them permanently.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1093598.stm|title=IRA bomb victim buried|access-date=16 July 2008|work=BBC News|date=30 December 2000}} Ulster Unionist politicians Sammy Foster and Jim Dixon were among the crowd; the latter received extensive head injuries but recovered.{{fv|date=January 2021}} A local businessman captured the immediate aftermath of the bombing on video camera. His footage, showing the effects of the bombing, was broadcast on international television.{{cite web|url=http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/irish_news/arts2007/nov5_Enniskillen_anniversary.php|title=Murder of innocents – the IRA attack that repulsed the world|work=The Irish News|publisher=Nuzhound.com|date=6 November 2007|access-date=29 December 2010}} All the victims were Protestant.

A few hours after the blast, the IRA called a radio station and said it had abandoned a {{convert|150|lb|kg|adj=on}} bomb in Tullyhommon, {{convert|20|mi}} away after it failed to detonate.McDaniel, Denzil. Enniskillen: The Remembrance Sunday bombing. Wolfhound Press, 1997. pp.119–120 That morning, a Remembrance Sunday parade (which included many members of the Boys' and Girls' Brigades) had unwittingly gathered near the Tullyhommon bomb. Soldiers and RUC officers had also been there, and the IRA said it attempted to trigger the bomb when soldiers were standing beside it. It was defused by security forces and was found to have a command wire leading to a firing point across the border.

Reactions

The IRA apologised, saying it had made a mistake and that the target had been the UDR soldiers who were parading to the memorial.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE4D9163FF936A25752C1A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=Terrorism; With Latest Bomb, I.R.A. Injures Its Own Cause|access-date=7 May 2008|author=Howell Raines|date=15 November 1987|newspaper=The New York Times}}

Denzil McDaniel, author of Enniskillen: The Remembrance Sunday Bombing, commented: "I don't believe the IRA set out to specifically kill civilians. I think they made mistakes, probably with their intelligence on the timetable for the service, but the IRA was reckless about civilian life". RUC Detective Chief Superintendent Norman Baxter said: "Their intention was to inflict casualties. The only mistake in the operation was that the bomb went off before the parade arrived".[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/enniskillen-20-years-on-28067614.html "Enniskillen: 20 years on"], Belfast Telegraph, 2 November 2007. Many Irish nationalists and republicans were horrified by the bombing and described it as a blow to the republican cause.{{fv|date=January 2021}} Sinn Féin's weekly newspaper, An Phoblacht, criticised the bombing, calling it a "monumental error" that would strengthen the IRA's opponents. The IRA disbanded the unit responsible.

The bombing led to an outcry among politicians in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said: "It's really desecrating the dead and a blot on mankind".{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/8/newsid_2515000/2515113.stm|work=BBC News|title=1987: Bomb kills 11 at Enniskillen|date=8 November 1987}} The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Tom King, denounced the "outrage" in the House of Commons, as did the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Lenihan in Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, the Republic's legislature), while in Seanad Éireann Senator Maurice Manning spoke of people's "total revulsion".Seanad Éireann – Seanad Éireann – Volume 117 Column 1346 – 11 November 1987 Many public figures used terms such as "barbarism" and "savagery" to describe the bombing.Robinson, Helen. 'Remembering War in the Midst of Conflict: First World War Commemorations in the Northern Irish Troubles', 20th Century British History, 21, 1 (2010), pp. 97–98

The bombing was seen by many Northern Irish Protestants as an attack on them, and loyalist paramilitaries retaliated with attacks on Catholic civilians. The day after, five Catholic teenagers were wounded in a shooting in Belfast, and a Protestant teenager was killed by the Ulster Defence Association after being mistaken for a Catholic.Robinson, p. 97 In the week after the bombing, there were 14 gun and bomb attacks on Catholics in Belfast.McKittrick, p. 1099

Irish band U2 were holding a concert in Denver, Colorado, US the same day. During a performance of their song "Sunday Bloody Sunday", singer Bono passionately condemned the bombing, stating "fuck the revolution" in his mid-song speech, as well as criticising the armchair republicanism of many Irish-Americans and stating that the majority of people in his country did not want "the revolution".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUqkOSTlp4gC&pg=PA23|title=The Frontman: Bono (In the Name of Power)|last=Browne|first=Harry|publisher=Verso Books|year=2013|isbn=9781781683323|pages=23}} The footage is included in U2's rockumentary Rattle and Hum.{{cite video|people=U2, Phil Joanou (director)|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096328|title=U2: Rattle and Hum|medium=DVD|publisher=Paramount|date=1999}} Simple Minds had a number 1 single in the UK with "Belfast Child", inspired by the bombing.{{cite book |first1=Jon |last1=Kutner |first2=Spencer |last2=Leigh |title=1000 UK Number One Hits |publisher=Omnibus Press |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-84449-283-1}} Irish singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh wrote the song "Remembrance Day" about the Enniskillen bombings which he only performed twice in a solo piano version. The song contains the line "Whatever you believe in, whatever flag you wave, let us not forget what happened on Remembrance Day".

Long-term results

Image:ClintonCentreEnniskillen.jpg, which was built in 2002 on the site of the bomb]]

At the time, the British and Irish governments were negotiating an Extradition Act that would make it easier to extradite IRA suspects from the Republic to the UK.Seakamp, Gail. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Nw41AAAAIBAJ&sjid=qKULAAAAIBAJ&dq=ireland%20extradition&pg=2680%2C3335180 "Impasse on Irish extradition"]. The Glasgow Herald, 13 October 1987. The Act was to come before the Irish parliament less than a month after the bombing. The Irish government wanted the British to reform the justice system in Northern Ireland (such as by abolishing "Diplock courts") before it would pass the Act. Many in the Republic insisted that the Act should only be passed after the reforms took place. However, after the bombing, opposition to the Act dwindled and it was passed by the Irish Parliament, albeit with some changes.

The bombing is often seen as a turning point in the Troubles. It undermined support for the IRA's campaign, both locally and internationally. Crucially, Libya, whose bomb was responsible for the attack, withdrew its support and with it the supply of weapons and ammunition to the IRA.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150223022021/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/events/enniskillen_bombing BBC History – Enniskillen bombing]. Retrieved 14 January 2021. The bombing also harmed Sinn Féin's electoral support. In 1989, in the first local elections held after the bombing, Sinn Féin lost four of its eight seats on Fermanagh District Council and was overtaken by the SDLP as the biggest Irish nationalist party there.{{cite web|url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/85-89lgfermanagh.htm|title=ARK elections|publisher=Ark.ac.uk|access-date=29 December 2010}} It was not until 2001, fourteen years after the bombing, that Sinn Féin support returned to its 1985 level.{{cite web|author=Nicholas Whyte|url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/lgfermanagh.htm|title=ARK|publisher=ARK|access-date=29 December 2010}} The bombing drove new efforts by Irish nationalists towards a political solution to the conflict. It led to the resumption of talks between Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and SDLP leader John Hume, paving the way for formal talks between the two parties and the beginnings of the Northern Ireland peace process. In 1997, Adams apologised for the bombing on behalf of the republican movement.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/25480.stm|title=Adams apologises for Enniskillen bombing|access-date=16 July 2008|work=BBC News|date=8 November 1997}}

Enniskillen's Remembrance Day service was re-staged two weeks after the bombing, and attended by about 5,000 people, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.Robinson, pp. 99–100. The site of the bomb, which was owned by the Catholic Church, was rebuilt as The Clinton Centre, a youth hostel, in 2002. The hostel was opened by and named after former US President Bill Clinton.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1354320.stm|title=Clinton 'optimistic' about peace in NI|access-date=16 July 2008|work=BBC News|date=27 May 2001}}

Letter released under thirty-year rule

Under the thirty-year rule, a letter sent after the bombing was released by the Irish Government in 2018. The author was anonymous but claimed to be working for MI5, and the letter was sent to then Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Lenihan. Without providing any evidence, it claimed that MI5 had advance knowledge of the Remembrance Day bombing but allowed it to go ahead, so that the public could turn against the Provisional IRA and new security measures could be justified.{{cite news|last=McGreevy |first=Ronan |date=29 December 2018 |title=Anonymous letter claimed British knew of Enniskillen bomb plans |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/anonymous-letter-claimed-british-knew-of-enniskillen-bomb-plans-1.3735615 |work=Irish Times |access-date=31 December 2018 }}