In 1983, 38 IRA inmates escaped from the Maze Prison, near Belfast. in the biggest prison break in UK history. "Supergrass trials" began. 22 IRA members received over 4,000 years in sentences. Harrods department store in London was bombed. The IRA bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton where the Conservative party was having its annual conference.

The Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed in 1985. All fifteen Unionist MPs at Westminster resigned in protest. The unsuccessful Northern Ireland Assembly was officially disbanded in 1986. Sinn Fein voted to end its policy of abstentionism and a section that walked out formed Republican Sinn Fein. Loyalists held a closed meeting at the Ulster Hall in Belfast. During the meeting a new organization, Ulster Resistance, was formed to "take direct action as and when required" to end the Anglo-Irish Agreement. 1987 saw the assassination of eight members of the IRA in the Loughall ambush and later that…