The day after the explosion , the IRA admitted responsibility and apologised for the inadequate warning . The hotel had allegedly been targeted by the IRA as part of its firebomb campaign against commercial targets . Since the beginning of its campaign , it had carried out numerous such attacks with the stated goal of harming the economy and causing disruption , which it believed would put pressure on the British Government to withdraw from Northern Ireland . The resulting carnage brought quick condemnation from other Irish nationalists , with one popular newspaper comparing the attack to the 1971 McGurk 's Bar bombing . Sinn Féin president Ruairí Ó Brádaigh also strongly criticised the operation . In consequence of the botched attack , the IRA Army Council gave strict instructions to all units not to bomb buses , trains or hotels
McGurk 's Bar bombing
McGurk's Bar bombing
La Mon restaurant bombing