Transcript of an interview with Mitchel McLaughlin, chairperson of Sinn Fein, by John Humphrys for BBC On the Record. The IRA's seventeen-month ceasefire came to an end with the Canary Wharf bombing of February 1996. Humphrys questions McLaughlin as to whether Sinn Féin can influence the IRA to resume their ceasefire after the Docklands bombing, as Taoiseach John Bruton thinks they should. McLaughlin believes that a pan-nationalist consensus must once again be built in order to bring the IRA leadership back to the table. He lays the blame for the breakdown in the peace squarely at the feet of the British government.
Date of Release/Broadcast: 11 February 1996
Name of First Interviewee: Mitchel McLaughlin
Role at time of Interview: Chairperson of Sinn Féin
Interviewer: John Humphrys
Purpose: News
Media: Transcript
Copyright: © BBC On the Record
Link: Read the transcript
Programme/Book/Article: BBC On the Record
Key Individuals: Mitchel McLaughlin, John Bruton, John Hume, Albert Reynolds, Gerry Adams