1976 Long war

The 1970s marked the bloodiest years of the Troubles with atrocities carried out by paramilitaries from both sides of the sectarian divide.

A number of IRA attacks sparked particular outrage and have stayed in the public consciousness. Its firebombing of the La Mon House Hotel near Belfast in February 1978 killed 12 people in horrific circumstances.

A year later, it killed 18 soldiers at Warrenpoint and, on the same day, Lord Mountbatten and guests aboard his holiday yacht off the County Sligo coast in the Republic of Ireland.

The 1975 ceasefire hit IRA morale as London dragged out its offer of negotiations. More importantly, the security forces began to clamp down increasingly on paramilitaries.

The IRA concluded that to survive it would need to fight a "long war" and reorganised its paramilitary units in to small underground cells. But in reducing the visible presence of the IRA, it moved to increase republican presence elsewhere. It sanctioned the first moves to develop Sinn Fein as a radical, agitating political force working within nationalist communities, seeeking to build support for republican causes.

	Warrenpoint bombing: "Twenty minutes and 300 yards separated two huge explosions."
	The death of Lord Mountbatten: "The explosion, violent in the extreme, was heard two miles away"

Sinn Fein should should agitate about social and economic issues. It should have a big role in publicity and propaganda. It gains the respect of the people, which in turn leads to increased support for the cell

IRA Strategy Document, 1977