British and Irish intelligence sources claim that in 1987 Martin McGuinness was the leading figure on the IRA’s Northern Command – the body that ran the “war” in the North.
They say that Northern Command knew about the Enniskillen bombing in advance and did nothing to stop it. Eleven civilians died and not a single member of the security forces.
In the course of making Age Of Terror – 10 Days Of Terror (Tuesday 22 April, 9.00pm, BBC Two) award-winning journalist Peter Taylor carried out an interview with Detective Chief Superintendent Norman Baxter who led the investigation into the Enniskillen bombing.
DCS Baxter revealed the Enniskillen attack was not an unauthorised, one-off operation by a local IRA unit, but was carefully coordinated by three IRA units – two from the South and one from the North. He says that prior to the bombing there were deliberations at a very senior level within the IRA.
“The calculation was taken as to the number of casualties they could inflict on the civilian population against the number of casualties they could inflict on members of the security forces. And they decided that the risk was worth taking,” he said.
“The civilians were collateral to the bomb but they were prepared to accept the number of casualties.”
DCS Baxter also revealed that the IRA planned a simultaneous attack on a Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade parade at the border village of Tullyhommon a few miles away but the bomb failed to go off.
What’s more, British and Irish intelligence sources told Peter Taylor that Martin McGuinness, who is now Northern Ireland ‘s deputy First Minister, was the leading figure on Northern Command at the time.
Intelligence reports indicate three days before the attack McGuinness was stopped by Irish police on the Donegal border. Three southern members of the IRA were in the car with him. The subsequent intelligence assessment was that McGuinness was going to be briefed on the Remembrance Day attacks.
In the hours after the Sunday bombing, the reports record McGuinness leaving Belfast to travel to Fermanagh to meet members of the local IRA to find out what went wrong.
Intelligence reports further indicate that on Monday, the day after the bombing, McGuinness crossed the border to see the officer commanding the IRA’s Donegal unit – and that subsequently Gerry Adams and a senior figure from the IRA’s General Headquarters’ Staff discussed declaring an IRA ceasefire at the beginning of December.
Adams and McGuinness are reported to have fallen out over the proposal with McGuinness saying that on no account should the IRA go for a ceasefire.
Peter Taylor asked Martin McGuinness if he was on Northern Command at the time and had advance knowledge of Enniskillen. He said he was not and knew nothing about the attack. He did not deny going down to Fermanagh after the bombing but implied that it would have been in his Sinn Fein capacity. He declined to be interviewed.
Significantly, many of those who were victims of the bombing now praise the journey McGuinness has made from “war” to peace.
Joan Wilson, whose daughter Marie died in the attack, said: “I regard him as a good politician.
“I’m sure he has to learn a lot. We all learn from experience. But it was a big step for him too and I wish him well.”
Stephen Gault saw his father lying dead in the rubble has now reluctantly come to terms with McGuinness’s transformation.
“It’s hard to stomach him being the deputy first minister, but I think having peace in Northern Ireland is the best thing that ever happened.
“It’s a hard pill to swallow, but I’d rather be where we are now than back in the Troubles.”
In this, the second programme in his chronicle of the Age Of Terror, Peter Taylor looks at the dramatic events of 10 Days Of Terror, in 1987.
A cargo of Libyan arms bound for Ireland is intercepted in French waters and, in the same week, IRA plans to bomb a Remembrance Day service in the border town of Enniskillen are approaching completion.
These two extraordinary events would lead to a transformation of the political landscape in Northern Ireland.