Ireland in the 1980s


Click here for the related timeline section Click here to return to the History Links page Click here to return to the main page Back to Ireland in the late 1960s and 1970s Forward to Ireland in the 1990s

Table of Contents

Key figures and political parties

Events in the Republic of Ireland

Events in the early eighties (Northern Ireland)

Events in the mid-eighties (Northern Ireland)

Events in the late eighties (Northern Ireland)

Other resources

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
Mella Carroll: Ireland's first female high court judge	Wikipedia
Patrick Connolly, Attorney General	Wikipedia
Pat Finucane, lawyer killed by Loyalists	Wikipedia
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
Charlie McCreevy, Fianna Fáil politician	Wikipedia
James Molyneux, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party	Wikipedia
Desmond O'Malley, founder of the Progressive Democrats	Wikipedia
Ian Paisley, DUP leader	Wikipedia
Ian Paisley	Biography Base
James Prior, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1981 - 4	Wikipedia
Bobby Sands	Bobby Sands Trust
Bobby Sands	Wikipedia
Michael Stone, Loyalist Paramilitary	Wikipedia
Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister	CAIN
Democratic Unionist Party	Wikipedia
Progressive Democrats	Wikipedia
Sinn Féin	Wikipedia
Social Democratic and Labour Party	Wikipedia
Ulster Unionist Party, 1972 - 95	Wikipedia
Return to top

Events in the Republic of Ireland

The Eurovision Song Contest, 1980	Wikipedia
Darrynaflin Chalice discovered, 1980	Wikipedia
1980 files show mutual London-Dublin suspicion	RTÉ
Derrynaflan Chalice	Visual Arts Cork
The Buttevant Rail Disaster, 1980	Wikipedia
Central Hotel Fire, Bundoran, 1980	Wikipedia
Bundoran Fire	Bundoran Fire Brigade
Mella Carroll: first female high court judge, 1980	Ulster University
National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin, Act, 1980	Irish Statute Book
An Irish solution for an Irish problem - Health Family Planning Act, Nov 1980	Wikipedia
Stardust Disaster, 1981	Wikipedia
Oireachtas debate on the Stardust Disaster	Oireachtas
General election, June 1981	Wikipedia
Dublin-registered Union Star suffers a collision, 1981	BBC
General Election, February 1982	Wikipedia
PRSI debate, May 1982	Oireachtas
Malcolm MacArthur murders, August 1982	Wikipedia
Eighth Amendment to the Constitution (regarding abortion), September 1982	Wikipedia
General Election, November 1982	Wikipedia
Presidential election, December 1983	Wikipedia
Ann Lovett (girl who died after giving birth in a grotto), 1984	RTÉ
The Kerry Babies	Wikipedia
European Parliamentary Elections, 1984	Wikipedia
Ballinspittle - place of pilgrimage, 1985	Wikipedia
A moving tale from County Cork	BBC
Tenth Amendment of the Constitution Bill (bid to remove the prohibition on divorce), 1986	Wikipedia
General Election, February 1987	Wikipedia
Johnny Logan's winning song in Eurovision 1987, 'Hold Me Now'	Wikipedia
Tenth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, approving the Single European Act, 1987	Wikipedia
Three Irish UN peacekeepers killed in Lebanon, 1989	New York Times
General Election, June 1989	Wikipedia
Return to top

Events in the early eighties

Chronology of the conflict: 1980	CAIN
NIO files: Dirty protests, violence and the 'teapot summit'	BBC
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
The IRA hunger strike and Fleet Street's graveyard of truth	Guardian
Margaret Thatcher 'negotiated with IRA'	BBC
Irish Hunger Strike	Wikipedia
Irish Martyrs (hungerstrike stories)	Irish Hunger Strike
Hunger: the real Maze men speak	Guardian Observer
What happened in the hunger strike?	BBC
Republicans recall hunger strike	BBC
Northern Ireland Act 1982	CAIN
1982: IRA bombs cause carnage in London	BBC
Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings	Wikipedia
Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings	Time
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
Return to top

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
1985: Anglo-Irish Agreement signed	BBC
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
Return to top

Events in the late eighties

Chronology of the conflict: 1987	CAIN
Loughall Martyrs, 1987	Wikipedia
True tale of IRA 'martyrs' revealed	Guardian
Report says IRA fired first in 1987 Loughgall attack	BBC
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
Bringing them home (Gibraltar casualties)	An Phoblacht
Operation Flavius	BBC
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
Northern Ireland Marathon of Death, 1988	Time
After bombing, review of Ulster security, 1988	New York Times
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
Tell us the truth about Pat Finucane	Guardian
Statement by Dermot Ahern supporting an inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane, 2006	CAIN
Ulster town mourns victim of IRA, 1989	New York Times
Deal Barracks bombing, 1989	Wikipedia
Ten dead in Kent barracks bomb	BBC

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 Five Demands (Italian language)	Five Demands
UK miners' strike	Wikipedia
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
Shergar	Wikipedia
Smithwick tribunal: Hurst evidence shines light on covert war	Guardian
Return to top of page Back to main page Mail the site with comments or links