Ireland in the 1980s

This page currently covers only events in Northern Ireland

Table of Contents

Key figures and political parties

Gerry Adams, Sinn Féin leader	Sinn Féin
Gerry Adams	BBC
Robert Bradford, MP killed by IRA	Wikipedia
Peter Brooke, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1989 - 1992	Wikipedia
Pat Finucane, lawyer killed by Loyalists	Wikipedia
Garret Fitzgerald, Taoiseach	General Michael Collins
Garret Fitzgerald	Wikipedia
Charles Haughey, Taoiseach	Wikipedia
Charles Haughey: the flawed chieftain	Guardian
John Hume, SDLP leader	BBC
John Hume	Wikipedia
John Hume	Academy of Achievement
Douglas Hurd, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1984 - 5	Wikipedia
Tom King, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1985 - 1989	Wikipedia
Patrick Magee, IRA bomber	BBC
Patrick Magee	Guardian
James Molyneux, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party	Wikipedia
Ian Paisley, DUP leader	Wikipedia
Ian Paisley	Biography Base
James Prior, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1981 - 4	Wikipedia
Bobby Sands, MP and hunger striker	larkspirit
Bobby Sands	Wikipedia
Michael Stone, Loyalist Paramilitary	Wikipedia
Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister	CAIN
Democratic Unionist Party	Wikipedia
Sinn Féin	Wikipedia
Social Democratic and Labour Party	Wikipedia
Ulster Unionist Party, 1972 - 95	Wikipedia

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Events in the early eighties

Chronology of the conflict: 1980	CAIN
Chronology of the conflict: 1981	CAIN
Paisley and the 'Ulster Declaration'	Time
1981: Bobby Sands dies in prison	BBC
1981: Violence erupts at Irish hunger strike protest	BBC
Irish Hunger Strike	Wikipedia
Irish Martyrs (hungerstrike stories)	Irish Hunger Strike
What happened in the hunger strike?	BBC
Theory that republican hunger strikers were allowed to die in retaliation for Mountbatten	The Blanket
Northern Ireland Act 1982	CAIN
1982: IRA bombs cause carnage in London	BBC
Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings	Wikipedia
Droppin' Well bombing	Wikipedia
Village remembers INLA victims (Droppin' Well pub bomb, 1982)	BBC
Chronology of the conflict: 1982	CAIN
Northern Ireland Assembly Elections 1982	ARK
Chronology of the conflict: 1983	CAIN
New Ireland Forum, established 1983	Wikipedia
1983: Dozens escape in Maze breakout	BBC
The IRA's 'great escape'	Time
Harrods bomb blast kills six, 1983	BBC

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Events in the mid eighties

Chronology of the conflict: 1984	CAIN
1984: Tory cabinet in Brighton bomb blast	BBC
Brighton hotel bombing	Wikipedia
Was MI6 behind the Brighton bomb?	Guardian
Margaret Thatcher's account of the Brighton bomb	Margaret Thatcher
Extracts from a speech by Thatcher following an Anglo-Irish summit, Nov 1984	CAIN
The Anglo-Irish Agreement: contents	CAIN
Anglo-Irish Agreement: chronology of events	CAIN
Anglo-Irish Agreement	Wikipedia
Anglo-Irish Agreement 1985	Université Rennes
Ulster Says No, 1985	Wikipedia
Newry mortar attack, 1985	Wikipedia
Chronology of the conflict: 1985	CAIN
Chronology of the conflict: 1986	CAIN
Libyan arms to the IRA	Wikipedia

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Events in the late eighties

Chronology of the conflict: 1987	CAIN
Loughall Martyrs, 1987	Wikipedia
True tale of IRA 'martyrs' revealed	Guardian
1987: Bomb kills 11 at Enniskillen	BBC
Remembrance Day Bombing	Wikipedia
Who knew about Enniskillen plans?	BBC
Car bomb hits army base in West Germany, 1987	BBC
Chronology of the conflict: 1988	CAIN
IRA gang shot dead in Gibraltar, 1988	BBC
Tribute to IRA volunteers on the Rock	An Phoblacht
Bringing them home (Gibraltar casualties)	An Phoblacht
Operation Flavius	BBC
Gibraltar: the Truth	Sunday Life
1988-9: Gibraltar killings and the release of the Guildford Four	BBC
1988: Three shot dead at Milltown Cemetery	BBC
Milltown Cemetery attack	Wikipedia
2 British soldiers killed at IRA rites, 1988	New York Times
Corporals Killings	Wikipedia
Personal account of the Ballygawley bus bombing, 1988	Light Infantry Reunited
Ballygawley bus bomb: did the British army know?	Unsolved mysteries
Chronology of the conflict: 1989	CAIN
Security forces aided Loyalist murders	BBC
Belfast lawyer Finucane murdered, 1989	BBC
Pat Finucane: a controversial killing	BBC
Statement by Dermot Ahern supporting an inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane, 2006	CAIN
Truth or a continuing cover-up? A full public judicial inquiry now	Pat Finucane Centre
Ulster town mourns victim of IRA, 1989	New York Times

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Other resources

Northern Ireland: a British colonial heritage that means nothing but trouble	Gegenstandpunkt
Talking politics: reform attempts up to 1989	BBC
The early stages of the Irish peace process	Conciliation Resources
The Falklands War	Falklands War
The miners' strike	National Union of Mineworkers
The Five Demands	larkspirit
West Belfast elections 1983 - 92	ARK
The Libyan connection	Victims.org
Chronology of parades and marches, 1688 - 1986	CAIN
Northern Ireland Loyalist Paramilitaries	Council of Foreign Relations
Sutton index of deaths	CAIN
Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution	Wikipedia
Pat Finucane Centre	Pat Finucane Centre

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