Would a short all out military campaign in 1978 have finished off the IRA?

From this evenings RTE news. We haven’t yet come to the end of the insights to be had from the British state papers released under the thirty year rule. The papers reveal a row between the then RUC and British army about how to finish off the IRA, the British military General prefered a short all out military campaign to finish off the IRA in 1978. So would a swift military campaign by the British in 1978 have finished off the IRA? Do you think the IRA were finished off, and if so by whom, or did they fight the British military to a standstill?

A difference of opinion too, between Jim Callaghan and the British army, who wanted to send 1 para into South Armagh, a controversial move after Bloody Sunday, Callaghan claimed that the catholics were feeling sensitive and there was no need to make them feel any worse than they do. But they went in anyway due to an increase in IRA activity. More in the footage….

Kathleen