Remembrance Day bombing

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Remembrance Day bombing
Part of The Troubles

The aftermath of the bombing
Location Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
Coordinates 54°20′39″N 7°38′3″W / 54.34417°N 7.63417°W / 54.34417; -7.63417Coordinates: 54°20′39″N 7°38′3″W / 54.34417°N 7.63417°W / 54.34417; -7.63417
Date 8 November 1987
10:43 (GMT)
Attack type Time bomb
Deaths 12
Injured (non-fatal) 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. 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 (ten civilians and a police officer) were killed 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 weakened the IRA's and Sinn Féin's support. It also facilitated the passing of the Extradition Act, which made it easier to extradite IRA suspects from the Republic of Ireland to the UK. The BBC described the bombing as a turning point in the Troubles, and an incident that shook the IRA "to its core".[3][4]

Planning

The bombing was thought by the British and Irish security forces to have been planned and overseen by up to three units of the IRA from both sides of the border.[5] Although IRA units were given "a degree of operational autonomy" at the time, they believed that a bomb of such strength must have been sanctioned by IRA Northern Command.[4] 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.[6]

Denzil McDaniel, editor of Fermanagh's Impartial Reporter, later interviewed security and IRA contacts, putting together an account of the bombers' movements.[5] He wrote that the 40 pounds (18 kg) bomb was made in Ballinamore, County Leitrim and brought to the town 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.[5] On 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 10:43AM the next day,[4][7] minutes before the ceremony was to start.[8][9]

The IRA released a statement claiming that a "Crown Forces patrol"[10] had been the target. However, it has been alleged that the bomb was meant to kill Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers who were parading to the memorial,[5] with "a few civilian deaths" deemed acceptable collateral.[4][5][11]

Explosion

The Cenotaph in 2009.

The bomb blew out the wall of the Reading Rooms—where many of the victims were standing—and hurled masonry towards the gathered crowd, many of whom were standing nearby.[4]

Eleven people were killed: ten civilians, Bertha Armstrong, Wesley Armstrong, Samuel Gault, Nessie Johnston, Kitchener Johnston, John Megaw, Nessie Mullan, William Mullan, Alberta Quinton, Marie Wilson and one Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer, Edward Armstrong.[12] Gordon Wilson, whose daughter Marie Wilson died in the blast and who was himself injured in the explosion, went on to become a peace campaigner and member of Seanad Éireann.[13] The twelfth fatality, Ronnie Hill, died after spending 13 years in a coma. Sixty-three people were injured.[14] Ulster Unionist politicians Sammy Foster and Jim Dixon were among the crowd; the latter received extensive head injuries but recovered.[4] 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.[13] All the victims were Protestant.[5]

A few hours after the blast, the IRA called a radio station and said it had abandoned a 150 pounds (68 kg) bomb in Tullyhommon, 20 miles (32 km) away, after it failed to detonate.[6][15] That morning, a Remembrance Sunday parade (which included many members of the Boys' and Girls' Brigades) had unwittingly gathered near the Tullyhommon bomb.[15] Soldiers and RUC officers had also been there,[15] and the IRA said it triggered the bomb when soldiers were standing beside it.[6] It was defused by security forces and was found to have a command wire leading to a 'firing point' across the border.[6][15]

Reactions

In the aftermath of the attack the IRA said that it had made a mistake[13] and its Fermanagh Brigade was stood down.[13] The brigade that had carried out the bombing was suspended from operations for the remainder of the Troubles.[5] Many republicans were horrified by the bombing and described it as a blow to the republican cause. Sinn Féin's publicity director Danny Morrison said he was "shattered" on hearing that the IRA was involved.[4] The organisation's weekly newspaper, An Phoblacht, called it a "monumental error" that would strengthen the IRA's opponents.[10]

The bombing led to an outcry among politicians in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said: "It's really desecrating the dead and a blot on mankind".[16] The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Tom King, denounced the "outrage" in the House of Commons,[7] 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".[17] Many public figures used terms such as 'barbarism' and 'savagery' to describe the bombing.[18]

The bombing was widely seen as an attack on the Northern Irish Protestant community. The day after, five Catholic teenagers were injured in an apparent retaliation shooting by loyalists in Belfast, and a Protestant teenager was killed by the Ulster Defence Association after being mistaken for a Catholic.[19]

Irish band U2 were holding a concert in Denver, Colorado the same day. During a performance of their song "Sunday Bloody Sunday", singer Bono passionately condemned the bombing, as well as criticising the armchair republicanism of many Irish-Americans and stating that the majority of people in the Republic of Ireland did not support the IRA. The footage is included in U2's rockumentary Rattle and Hum.[20]

Aftermath

The Clinton Centre, 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.[21] The Act was to come before the Irish parliament less than a month after the bombing.[21] 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 if, and when, the reforms took place.[21] However, after the bombing, opposition to the Act dwindled[10][9] and it was passed by the Irish government, albeit with some changes.

The bombing harmed Sinn Féin's electoral support.[13] In 1989, in the first local elections held in County Fermanagh after the bombing, Sinn Féin lost four of its eight council seats and was overtaken by the SDLP as the biggest Irish nationalist party.[13][22] It was not until 2001, fourteen years after the bombing, that Sinn Féin support returned to its 1985 level.[23] In 1997, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams apologised for the bombing on behalf of the republican movement.[24]

Enniskillen's Remembrance Day service was re-staged two weeks after the bombing. It was attended by about 5,000 people, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. There was a rise in both Catholic and Protestant attendance at Remembrance Day services in the years after, although this was an acceleration of earlier trends rather than a new development.[25]

The site of the bomb, which was owned by the Catholic Church,[5] was rebuilt as The Clinton Centre, a youth hostel, in 2002. The hostel was opened by and named after former US President Bill Clinton.[26]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mary Harney (2001). "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". DETE press release. Retrieved 7 May 2008. 
  2. ↑ Henry McDonald (23 April 2006). "Gadaffi sued by 160 victims of IRA". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 7 May 2008. 
  3. ↑ "Educational Television Programmes for lectures, training seminars and exhibitions". BBC Active. 14 September 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2010. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 "Age of Terror" (Television Documentary). BBC. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2008. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Suzanne Breen (28 October 2007). "Attempt to airbrush Enniskillen from history". Sunday Tribune. Nuzhound. Retrieved 7 May 2008. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Police: IRA Planted Bomb in Town Near Enniskillen That Didn't Explode" (11 November 1987). Associated Press News Archive. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 House of Commons Official Report 9 November 1987 Column 19
  8. ↑ "IRA bombing relatives join service". The Irish Times. 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2012. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 David Hearst (9 November 2007). "Ulster terrorist bomb kills 11". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 August 2012. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Howell Raines (15 November 1987). "Terrorism; With Latest Bomb, I.R.A. Injures Its Own Cause". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2008. 
  11. ↑ Olinka Koster (22 April 2008). "Martin McGuinness 'knew of IRA's plan to bomb Enniskillen'". The Mail on Sunday. Retrieved 7 May 2008. 
  12. ↑ Lost Lives, McKittrick, Kelters, Feeney, Thornton & McVea, p.1094-8 – ISBN 978-1-84018-504-1
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 "Murder of innocents – the IRA attack that repulsed the world". The Irish News. Nuzhound.com. 6 November 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2010. 
  14. ↑ "IRA bomb victim buried". BBC News. 30 December 2000. Retrieved 16 July 2008. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 McDaniel, Denzil. Enniskillen: The Remembrance Sunday bombing. Wolfhound Press, 1997. pp.119–120
  16. ↑ "1987: Bomb kills 11 at Enniskillen". BBC News. 8 November 1987. 
  17. ↑ Seanad Éireann – Seanad Éireann – Volume 117 Column 1346 – 11 November 1987
  18. ↑ 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
  19. ↑ Robinson, p.97
  20. ↑ U2, Phil Joanou (director) (1999). U2: Rattle and Hum (DVD). Paramount. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Seakamp, Gail. "Impasse on Irish extradition". The Glasgow Herald, 13 October 1987.
  22. ↑ "ARK elections". Ark.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2010. 
  23. ↑ Dr Nicholas Whyte. "ARK". ARK. Retrieved 29 December 2010. 
  24. ↑ "Adams apologises for Enniskillen bombing". BBC News. 8 November 1997. Retrieved 16 July 2008. 
  25. ↑ Robinson, pp.99–100.
  26. ↑ "Clinton 'optimistic' about peace in NI". BBC News. 27 May 2001. Retrieved 16 July 2008. 

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