R.I.R.A. Funeral (96)

I'm not sure of your angle? Are you questioning why the PIRA disbanded even if NI still remains British? Pragmatism I suppose. Once you dig enough people just wanted to live normal lives in a place where discrimination didn't happen. Outside of misty eyed rebel songs people just want to get ahead. So, the PIRA had no support beyond this.

This requires a lengthier explanation though. Back in the '80's Enniskillen was a major PR blow for the 'RA. And, as absurd as it sounds, was a disaster for the more Dovish elements within militant Republicanism. Alongside of this, the realisation that they could not wear down the crown by paramilitary methods, and exposed some of the risks of the Cell structure which they employed. The conciliatory voices, although still only a whisper, started to get louder and louder. Enniskillen, privately, was held up as sign that things were not going as planned. On the other side of the fence, the Brits after catching that yacht full of explosives and weapons concluded that the 'RA had enough material already imported to maintain their current operations for at least a generation. MI5 then did a report saying that they could never fully break the IRA and that it had maintained cohesion and would continue to do so in perpetuity in the political climate at the time (early '90's). So.... around the same time, both sides realised that what they were doing was going no where. Even with the British security services embedded in much of the structure... to main tain that they had to become part and parcel of the organisation. it was dirty dirty work. Some say that Enniskillen was aided and abetted by handlers. The idea that MI5 operatives were actively protecting IRA rank and file from arrest by RUC is something many have never grasped. And that is how it was.

So anyways... that's why it changed. Hume and Adams made a bridgehead to each other. The Brits got negotiating... anytite the Brits stalled, a bomb went off. Canary Wharf was one such bomb. Brits were back to the table the next week. And so it went. Both sides recognised something had to happen and Labour who then came into power, forced the issue, with Bertie, the hero of our times forcing the other side.


Let no one EVER think that we have peace because people suddenly started smoking hash and got loved up on Es. We have peace because the people with guns, on both sides took 30+ years to realise that it wasn't working. If for ONE second either side thought guns would still work there would still be violence. And, as it turns out there is still those that do think it might work.

No. Sinn Fein just say, 'things changed (we're in part power now after grabbing most of the nationalist vote from SDLP)' and that's them patching that little thing up.

It might not be convincing to you and to others. And it does seem a bit hypocritical on the face of it. And to a small number of RIRA/CIRA or whatever phoenix said they are now...but that's how they got the majority nationalist vote.
The distinction been also that the 'war' with guns is over, but it's just moved to Stormont.

It will be very hard to prove anything, sure their faces were covered, also a man was shot and the guards are more interested in arresting people that attended his funeral, surely the ones that murdered him should be a bigger priority