[3] The bombing is often seen as a turning point in the Troubles,[3] an incident that shook the IRA "to its core",[4][5] and spurred on new efforts by Irish nationalists towards a political solution to the conflict.

[7] A week before the bombing, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) clashed with mourners at the funeral of IRA volunteers Eddie McSheffrey and Paddy Deery.

[12] Denzil McDaniel, author of Enniskillen: The Remembrance Sunday Bombing, later interviewed security and IRA contacts, putting together an account of the bombers' movements.

[11] He wrote that the 40-pound (18 kg) bomb was made in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, and brought to Enniskillen by up to thirty IRA volunteers, moving in relay teams to avoid security patrols.

[11] On the night of 7 November, the bomb, hidden in a sports bag, was left at the gable wall inside the town's Reading Rooms, and set to explode at 10:43 am the next day,[5][failed verification][13][full citation needed] minutes before the ceremony was to start.

[15] The bomb exploded as a parade of Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers was making its way to the memorial[11] and as people waited for the ceremony to begin.

[22] Ulster Unionist politicians Sammy Foster and Jim Dixon were among the crowd; the latter received extensive head injuries but recovered.

[11] A few hours after the blast, the IRA called a radio station and said it had abandoned a 150-pound (68 kg) bomb in Tullyhommon, 20 miles (32 km) away after it failed to detonate.

[12][23] That morning, a Remembrance Sunday parade (which included many members of the Boys' and Girls' Brigades) had unwittingly gathered near the Tullyhommon bomb.

[21][11][24] Denzil McDaniel, author of Enniskillen: The Remembrance Sunday Bombing, commented: "I don't believe the IRA set out to specifically kill civilians.

[5][failed verification] Sinn Féin's weekly newspaper, An Phoblacht, criticised the bombing, calling it a "monumental error" that would strengthen the IRA's opponents.

[33] Irish singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh wrote the song "Remembrance Day" about the Enniskillen bombings which he only performed twice in a solo piano version.

[34] The Irish government wanted the British to reform the justice system in Northern Ireland (such as by abolishing "Diplock courts") before it would pass the Act.

[21] In 1989, in the first local elections held after the bombing, Sinn Féin lost four of its eight seats on Fermanagh District Council and was overtaken by the SDLP as the biggest Irish nationalist party there.

[38] Enniskillen's Remembrance Day service was re-staged two weeks after the bombing, and attended by about 5,000 people, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Without providing any evidence, it claimed that MI5 had advance knowledge of the Remembrance Day bombing but allowed it to go ahead, so that the public could turn against the Provisional IRA and new security measures could be justified.