| Remembrance Day Bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of The Troubles | |
The aftermath of the bombing. |
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| Location | Enniskillen, Northern Ireland |
| Date | 8 November 1987 10:43 (GMT) |
| Attack type | Time bomb |
| Deaths | 12 |
| Injured | 63 |
| Perpetrator | Provisional IRA |
The Remembrance Day bombing (also known as the Enniskillen bombing or Poppy Day massacre[1][2]) took place on 8 November 1987 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Eleven people were killed when a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded at the town's war memorial (cenotaph) during a Remembrance Sunday ceremony – held to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. The bombing has been described by the BBC as a turning point in "The Troubles", and an attack that shook the IRA "to its core".[3][4]
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The IRA released a statement claiming that a "Crown Forces patrol"[5] had been the target. However, it has been alleged that the bomb was intended to kill Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers who were parading to the memorial,[6] with the civilian deaths deemed acceptable collateral.[4][6][7]
The bombing was thought by British and Irish authorities to have been planned and overseen by up to three units of the IRA from both sides of the border.[6] They believed that a bomb of such strength must have been sanctioned by IRA Northern Command.[4] On the same day, a bomb four times larger was placed at a similar but smaller parade 20 miles (32 km) away at Tullyhommon.[8] That parade was conducted by members of the Boys' Brigade, Girls' Brigade and "three or four members of the security forces in uniform there to lay a wreath".[4] That bomb failed to explode.
The bomb was made in Ballinamore, County Leitrim and brought to the town over a 24 -hour period by up to thirty IRA volunteers.[6] On 7 November it was placed against the gable wall inside the town's Reading Rooms, and set to explode at 10:43 am the next day.[4][9]
The explosion destroyed the wall — a vantage point favoured by some of the victims — blowing masonry towards the gathered crowd, many of whom were standing nearby.[4]
Ulster Unionist politicians Sammy Foster and Jim Dixon were among the crowd; the latter received extensive head injuries but recovered.[4]
Eleven people were killed — ten civilians and one Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer. One of the dead, Marie Wilson, was the daughter of Gordon Wilson. Wilson went on to become a peace campaigner and member of the Seanad Éireann.[10] The twelfth fatality, Ronnie Hill, died after spending 13 years in a coma. Sixty-three people were injured.[11] A local businessman captured the immediate aftermath of the bombing on video camera while at the scene. His footage, showing the effects of the bombing, was broadcast on international television.[10] All the victims were Protestant.[6]
The bombing led to an outcry among politicians in the Republic of Ireland and the UK. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Tom King, denounced the "outrage" in the House of Commons (the lower house of the British parliament),[9] as did the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Lenihan in Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament), while in Seanad Éireann Senator Maurice Manning spoke of people's "total revulsion".[12] Many public figures used terms such as 'barbarism' and 'savagery' to describe the bombing.[13]
The bombing was widely seen as an attack on the Northern Irish Protestant community. The day after the bombing five Catholic teenagers were injured in an apparent retaliation shooting in Belfast, and a Protestant teenager was killed by the Ulster Defence Association after being mistaken for a Catholic.[14]
The then prime minister Margaret Thatcher described the attack as "It's really desecrating the dead and a blot on mankind".[15]
In the aftermath of the attack the IRA stated that it had made a mistake. [10] and its Fermanagh Brigade was stood down.[10] The brigade that had carried out the bombing was suspended from operations for the remainder of the Troubles. [16] Many Republicans were horrified by the bombings. Sinn Féin's publicity director Danny Morrison said he was "shattered" on hearing that the IRA was involved at all.[4]
The bombing also had a negative impact on Sinn Féin's electoral support.[10] In 1989, in the first local elections held in Fermanagh after the bombing, Sinn Féin lost four of its eight council seats and was overtaken by the SDLP as the largest nationalist party.[10][17] It was not until 2001, fourteen years after the Enniskillen bomb, that Sinn Féin support returned to its 1985 level.[18]
Enniskillen's Remembrance Day service was re-staged two weeks after the bombing. It was attended by about 5000 people, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The bombing may have inspired many Irish Catholics to begin observing Remembrance Day. In the years afterwards, there was an increase in Catholic representation at various Irish and Northern Irish remembrance events. There was also a general surge in attendance at Remembrance Day services in the years after the bombing, although the increased attendance of both Catholic and Protestant was an acceleration of earlier trends rather than an entirely new development.[19]
The site of the bomb, which was owned by the Catholic Church,[6] was rebuilt as a Youth Hostel in 2002. The hostel was opened by and named after former US President Bill Clinton.[20]
In 1997 Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams apologised for the bombing on behalf of the republican movement.[21]
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