LONDON VIEW:BRITISH STATE papers reveal a process of internal IRA reorganisation in 1978, alongside fresh evidence of Britain's covert intelligence war in Northern Ireland.
Sensitive documents released in London point to the emergence of the "dirty war" which is sometimes said to characterise the later phase of the Troubles.
At the end of 1977, Northern secretary Roy Mason had claimed that "the tide has turned against the terrorists and the message for 1978 is one of real hope".
There was further evidence of success on the security side, with 81 deaths arising directly from the conflict in 1978, compared to 116 in 1977 and 297 in 1976.
At the same time, however, the IRA began to reorganise, replacing the old structure of geographically-based brigades with active service units, drawn from different areas and designed to be less susceptible to infiltration. There was a fresh emphasis, driven by a new northern command, on "long war", "attrition" and "armed propaganda".
On February 25th, Gerry Adams was charged with membership of the IRA. Although he was later freed on September 6th when a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him, British officials did link his arrest to a downturn in the level of violence.
At a Northern Ireland Office (NIO) meeting on security on March 17th, a month after the La Mon House restaurant bombing, it was suggested that the IRA "are undoubtedly feeling the pressure of recent arrests, notably that of Gerry Adams on a membership charge". Nonetheless, the future was difficult to predict.
At a meeting of the same committee on May 24th, it was again suggested that that the arrest of Adams in February, along with that of Francis Hughes on March 16th, "had undoubtedly inhibited PIRA (Provisional IRA) activity".
While further incidents could be expected to occur, it was hoped that counter-measures taken by the security forces would mean that PIRA were unlikely to maintain a particular strategy for long.
Running alongside the reorganisation of the IRA is evidence of the increasing use of covert intelligence and the SAS by the British government.
At a meeting with Unionist MPs on March 2nd, 1978, at which the prime minister was also present, Mason explained that: "Increasing use was made of the SAS on the intelligence side and more and more personnel was being used in SAS-type activities." Despite the main security burden still falling on the police, there were now covert surveillance teams attached to every army unit, assigned to intelligence-gathering tasks.
One letter relating to the SAS, in the files of the prime minister, is likely to raise controversy about the nature of covert operations. It is from the British Ministry of Defence on May 18th, 1978, recording the dispatch of four Heckler-Koch MP machine guns to Northern Ireland, for use by the SAS. More intriguing is the fact that the four guns were specially equipped with silencers, a move approved by ministers.
The letter explains how the army had good intelligence of an attack on an RUC station to be carried out by the IRA in the next few days. There was "specific information that the terrorists will be in two separate groups" and the response, to be carried out by elements of the SAS squadron in Northern Ireland, was therefore planned in two phases.
The use of silenced weapons was "strongly supported on the operational grounds that any firings in the first phase should not compromise the second".
The use of silencers was to be kept secret. It was stated that the IRA "have from time to time claimed that the army was engaged in assassinations, and these allegations might be given colour" if more details about the weaponry became known.
Despite the fact that the expected attack did not occur on this occasion, the SAS kept the silenced guns in case they were required again at short notice.
The details of the operation are likely to provoke comparisons with the notorious shoot-out at Loughgall, nine years later, on May 8th, 1987. On that occasion, it is believed that eight members of an IRA active service unit were shot dead in an ambush by an SAS combat team, along with an innocent passer-by, as they attempted to attack an RUC station.
On June 21st, 1978, British soldiers also killed three IRA bombers in an ambush at a post office depot in north Belfast. But the risk to civilians of such an approach also became apparent on July 11th when soldiers killed an innocent youth, 16-year-old John Boyle, who had returned to a terrorist arms cache that he had discovered, after reporting it to the police. On August 11th, in a discussion about the incident at the NIO, it was noted that "a lack of candour" about the youth's innocence, in statements to the press immediately after the incident, had been damaging to the reputation of the security forces.
On November 14th, a document by Sir Brian Cubbon, permanent under-secretary at the Northern Ireland Office reflected on the "substantial deterrent effect of PIRA knowing that there are many covert operations and that terrorists have been killed in the course of these operations".
On the other hand, he also pointed out that when innocent civilians also came under threat, this could threaten the public acceptance of covert operations and the security policy.
Ominously, when the NIO security committee met for the final time at the start of December, signs were reported of PIRA's improved organisation, including a greater stockpile of explosives.
A growing number of attacks had occurred away from Belfast and Derry - in smaller towns where the security presence was at a lower level. Furthermore, the increasing use of the car bomb suggested that PIRA had "ample supplies of home-made explosives which was presumably produced in the Republic".
In particular, towards the end of the year there was an increase in IRA activity in "the 3 Brigade area - the southern part of the province". Indeed, "since the release of Gerry Adams, PIRA's cell system had been consolidated and the degree of central control extended" and the leadership "now consisted of a tightly drawn group of trusted men".
On December 6th, a British foreign office report also confirmed that the new cell structure might make them less susceptible to the hostility which government policy is seeking to encourage within the minority community.
On December 9th, 1978, Republican News led with the headline "IRA Geared To A Long War". On December 17th, IRA bombs exploded in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Coventry and Southampton and on December 21st three soldiers were gunned down in Crossmaglen by IRA men.