A State of emergency is declared by the Republic. Lord Mountbatten dies in an explosion on his boat in County Sligo. The Provisional IRA claims responsibility. 1981 Bobby Sands, an IRA prisoner on hunger strike, wins a Westminster by-election. He dies a month later.
Rioting follows in Northern Ireland and Dublin.
An INLA bomb kills 17 people at a disco in Derry. The IRA bombs the Grand Hotel in Brighton, headquarters of the Conservative Party conference. Four people die but Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is unhurt. 1985 SDLP leader John Hume meets the IRA privately. In November, Mrs Thatcher and the Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald sign the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gives Dublin a greater say in the future of Northern Ireland.