> the IRA were mostly interested in harming property rather than people unlike today’s attackers

I think this is an exaggeration. Some IRA bombs damaged only/mainly property but the IRA also killed hundreds of people and not by accident.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_A...

I don't really agree that IRA attacks were ended by a negotiated settlement (GFA) either. That's a bit like saying that the the USSR dissolved because the Berlin wall came down.