Sir, – In your otherwise excellent coverage of political reaction to the Provisional IRA’s devastating Canary Wharf bombing of Friday, February 9th, 1996 (“Adams told Irish officials he would not have stopped Canary Wharf bomb”, December 30th, 2022), there is no mention of the nation-wide demonstrations against the bombing and demanding an end to the IRA’s violent campaign. These took place on Sunday, February 25th. Tens of thousands of working people and their families took to the streets of every city and major town in Ireland to demonstrate their revulsion at the latest Provo atrocity, demand that they “Stop” and “Give us back our peace”. In Dublin alone, an estimated 75,000 people rallied behind the Stop banner.
Organised at very short notice by a broadly based Stop committee, headed by Paul Burton, facilitated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and affiliated unions and organised regionally by local trade union councils, the huge turnout on the day surprised many, including the organisers.
That so many “ordinary” citizens were willing to give up their Sunday afternoon to make their voice heard and stand up to the IRA must have impacted on even the hardest of the Provo hard men.
Media coverage of the event at home and abroad was both extensive and positive, including prominent coverage by The Irish Times. Even US media got the message that Gerry Adams didn’t speak for the people of Ireland. – Yours, etc,
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OLIVER DONOHOE,
Kimmage,
Dublin 12.