The direct involvement of the Republic into Northern Ireland affairs goes back to 1985 when Margaret Thatcher signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement with Garret Fitzgerald.
Opinon at the time was that she was trying to contain the Northern Ireland violence and prevent it spreading to places like Glasgow, Liverpool and Birmingham.
The agreement suited the vanity of succeeding Irish premiers but had little effect on the ordinary people inside 'the Pale', who constituted the bulk of the population of the Republic.
The civil war was a long time over and the majority of the people of the Republic saw themselves as having nothing in common with either side of the Northern Catholic/Protestant divide. Things have changed since the Brits ruled the Irish peasants. There is now a massive monied class who have set their sights on the rest of the EU. They can't afford to have a million squabbling northerners interfering with their businesses back home. The desire for a united Holy Catholic Ireland is long gone. Having plenty of Euros is the current religion. Keeping the troubles in the north suits the Republic a well as the UK.
On the question of why Sinn Fein turned to politics, I think you can thank George Bush. (About the only thing you can thank him for.) In his war against terrorism he stopped the money supply from America that was sustaining the bombing campaign.
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