The IRA 's initial strategy was to use guerrilla tactics to cause the collapse of the government of Northern Ireland and to inflict enough casualties on British forces that the British government would be forced by public opinion in Britain to withdraw from the region . This policy involved recruitment of volunteers , increasing after the 1972 Bloody Sunday incident in which the British armed forces killed unarmed protesters , and launching attacks against British military and economic targets . The campaign was supported by arms and funding from Libya and from some Irish American groups . The IRA agreed to a ceasefire in February 1975 , which lasted nearly a year before the IRA concluded that the British were drawing them away from military action without offering any guarantees in relation to the IRA 's goals ( as well as launching an intelligence offensive ) , and hopes of a quick victory receded . As a result , the IRA launched a new strategy known as " the Long War " . This saw them conduct a war of attrition against the British and increased emphasis on political activity , via the political party Sinn Féin . The success of the 1981 Irish hunger strike in mobilising support and winning elections led to the Armalite and ballot box strategy , with more time and resources devoted to political activity . The abortive attempt at an escalation of the military part of that strategy led republican leaders increasingly to look for a political compromise to end the conflict , with a broadening dissociation of Sinn Féin from the IRA . Following negotiations with the Social Democratic and Labour Party ( SDLP ) and secret talks with representatives of both the Irish and British governments , the IRA ultimately called a ceasefire in 1994 on the understanding that Sinn Féin would be included in political negotiations for a settlement . When the British government , dependent on Ulster Unionist Party votes at Westminster , then demanded the disarmament of the IRA before it allowed Sinn Féin into multiparty talks , the IRA called off its ceasefire in February 1996 . The British demand was quickly dropped after the May 1997 general election in the UK . The IRA ceasefire was then reinstated in July 1997 and Sinn Féin was admitted into all-party talks , which produced the Good Friday Agreement of 1998
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1972)
Provisional Irish Republican Army