The INLA was highly active in the early and mid-1980s . In 1982 , it bombed a disco frequented by off-duty British soldiers , killing 11 soldiers and six civilians . One of the IRA 's most high-profile actions in this period was the Brighton hotel bombing on 12 October 1984 , when it set off a 100-pound bomb in the Grand Brighton Hotel in Brighton , where politicians including Thatcher , were staying for the Conservative Party conference . The bomb , which exploded in the early hours of the morning , killed five people , including Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry and the wife of Government Chief Whip John Wakeham , and thirty-four others were injured , including Wakeham , Trade and Industry Secretary Norman Tebbit , and Tebbit 's wife , Margaret . Margaret Tebbit was left permanently paralysed , while her husband 's injuries were less serious
Brighton hotel bombing
Brighton hotel bombing
The Troubles