Article from Labour Comment:—March 2004 Dublin/Monaghan Bombings 1974 Bombings: Dáil Hearings "THE question is, given Dublin Government fears of the inevitable findings of British Government sponsorship of the biggest act of mass killing on the island in recent years, will there be one?"
This was the question posed by Labour Comment, January, 2004. The answer is that a sworn public inquiry will not be held!
This is a cover-up on a huge scale.
The sub-committee of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, concluded its public hearings into the Barron Report on 24th February 2004 with a presentation by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.
The Dail Committee will meet in public in the first week of March with Judge Cory before considering whether it should call on the Government to initiate a public inquiry into the bombings which killed 33 people on Friday, 17th May 1974 in Dublin and Monaghan.
The Committee will discuss Judge Henry Barron's report in five modules before reporting its own conclusions to the Dail on 10th March 2004.
In his presentation the Taoiseach said that a full public inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings would not compel the British Government to share more of its security files on the atrocity.
However, he said, it would be 'well worthwhile' to explore the route that led to the establishment of the Cory Inquiry, which investigated the circumstances surrounding the six murder incidents north and south of the border.
But, while exploring the possibility of a Cory-type Inquiry—which has access to police files in both jurisdictions—the Taoiseach maintained he had no information to suggest that the British would agree to such an inquiry.
When asked if he thought there was any more information being held back by the British Government that related to the bombings, the Taoiseach said he did not know.
"I simply do not know whether there is more information out there that might have been of assistance to Justice Barron, or would be of assistance to a further inquiry.
"It is my personal view that we have received as much information from the British authorities as they have, or are prepared to share."
"It is my belief that a public inquiry will not change this position", he told members of the committee tasked with assessing whether a full public inquiry into the 1974 atrocities would be of further benefit.
Mr. Ahern told members that, over the course of the Barron Inquiry into the 17th May 1974 bomb attacks, which began in 1999, he had met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on more than 30 occasions.
When asked who he thought was to blame for the failure of the British Government to cooperate fully with Mr. Justice Barron, Mr. Ahern said he was not aware of a deliberate policy of non-cooperation and he reiterated his belief that the senior British officials had cooperated fully.
However, when pressed further by members, he referred to "coded language" that was contained in a number of the responses sent by British officials to Judge Barron and the committee.
This type of language, Mr. Ahern said, often meant that MI5 and MI6 had been involved in its preparation.
He went on to say that from his knowledge of the British secret service it would be highly unlikely they had not prepared assessments of the incident, and he found it hard to believe they found nothing to report on.
After reiterating again his belief that Judge Barron got full cooperation from the British government, Mr. Ahern eventually conceded that, if there were any further documents on the incident, that had not been released to Judge Barron, then they were probably held by MI5 or MI6.
He said that MI5 and MI6 were "almost impenetrable" and their records were unlikely to be revealed.
But what about his own police force, it would seem that the Garda Siochana are equally 'impenetrable'. The big difference of course is that the Garda Siochana are answerable to Mr. Ahern as the leader of a democratically elected government. Here is a sovereign leader endeavouring to penetrate MI5 and he cannot get from within his own police force the facts of a mass murder by external forces.
The Taoiseach also said an inquiry would cost tens of millions of Euro over several years.
"However, and the Taoiseach was at pains to point this out, when he says 'British authorities', he does not mean Prime Minister Blair, who is a very nice man. Neither does British mean the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who is a very nice man. Nor does he mean Her Majesty's Government, which is very also very, er, nice." (Miriam Lord, Irish Independent, 30.1.2004).
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"It now seems inevitable—and it did from the moment they first sat three weeks ago—that the Oireachtas Committee will not recommend that the Dail initiate a sworn public inquiry into the 1974 bombings in Dublin and Monaghan. It was the biggest mass murder in the history of the State—34 died and scores were maimed and injured, nearly all of them working class people with no particular influence or pull." (Sam Smyth, Business & Finance, 12.2.2004).
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A number of families of those killed and injured in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings informed the committee on January 30, 2004, that they would not be participating in the hearings—dismissing them as another delaying exercise that would achieve absolutely nothing for justice.
In a statement read out at the opening day of the hearing, lawyers for the O'Neill and the O'Brien families, and for Bernie Bergin, described the hearing's remit and scheme as, at worst, insulting and suspicious, or at best, naive and foolish. They referred to the precedent of the Abbeylara judgement which, in effect, constrained the committee from making findings adverse to the reputations of persons who are not members of the Oireachtas.
The families claim the hearings, like the Barron Report, had only served to delay their search for meaningful justice.
They called on the hearings to be halted immediately and for a public inquiry to be set up.
"If you continue with these hearings on the back of [Barron Inquiry] you will consign yourselves in history as part of a shameful and illogical process that has achieved a lot to be forgotten and absolutely nothing for justice," they contended.
"We have tragically got used to being ignored, demonised and criticised by all organs of the state for the last 30 years and in effect we have been marginalised," a statement read into the record said.
The hearing was also questioned by the Justice for the Forgotten group which, in a letter to the Oireachtas Committee, challenged its remit and scheme.
However, the group agreed to participate in the hearings. 26 people who were injured in the blasts or were relatives of those who were killed, gave personal testimony about the events of the day and the degree to which it had affected their lives.
All who gave evidence, without exception, called for the setting up of an independent public inquiry.
The Committee Chairman, Sean Ardagh TD, said part of the committee's remit was to consider if a public inquiry would be required to be held.
However, he would not say whether he believed such an inquiry was necessary. "I am not going to preempt what the committee is going to decide. It would be totally unwise to make a decision."
No Public Inquiry
"The heavens may cry out for justice but it will probably require divine intervention for the relatives of the victims of 1974 bombings in Dublin and Monaghan to secure a sworn public inquiry into the outrage" (Sam Smyth, Irish Independent, 21.1.2004).
"In other words an inquiry is, in theory, highly desirable but unless there is a realistic hope of such an inquiry reaching clear cut conclusions, instigating it is likely to be more divisive and damaging than stalling such a momentous decision.
"All of the parties are agreed that there is no point in setting up a sworn public inquiry without the full co-operation of the British Government. And on Monday, the Taoiseach 'requested' the assistance of the British Government for a public inquiry if required when he met Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
"And then there are the political considerations: will the Labour and Fine Gael members of the Oireachtas sub-committee be enthusiastic about an inquiry which will rekindle the suspicions of old adversaries?
"Is the current coalition government prepared to see the Gardai, already under fire in a series of other inquiries into past scandals, face another sworn public inquiry into their investigation of a 30 year old mass murder.
"And this observer felt that the politicians on the sub-committee were wondering not if there will, or will not be a public inquiry—but the least painful way to tell the grieving and suffering relatives and victims that there will not be a sworn public inquiry" (ibid.).
Liam Cosgrave
The former Taoiseach, Mr. Liam Cosgrave, refused an invitation to attend meetings of the Oireachtas sub-committee. He wrote on 19th January 2004, saying that he had retired from public life in 1981.
The former Fine Gael leader was responding to an invitation issued by the sub-committee of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Womens' Rights on 22nd December 2003.
"I informed Judge Barron on 8th February, 2001, that I had taken no files or copies of documents when I left office. I have nothing to add to what I said to Judge Barron in meetings with him and in the correspondence with Judge Barron and Mr. Michael Buckley."
Garret FitzGerald
Former Taoiseach, Dr. Garret FitzGerald in his contribution to the hearing said that the question of collusion between British forces and loyalist paramilitaries was never considered by the Government in the aftermath of the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings.
Dr. FitzGerald, who was Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Fine Gael/Labour coalition at the time, also said the Government at no time questioned the status of the garda investigation because it was not a matter for the Government to query garda operational matters.
Dr. FitzGerald told the Sub-Committee on 27th January 2004, that he would have had "great reservations" about interfering in garda matters, adding that there was "no reason" to believe there was a lack of co-operation from the British authorities.
It was never suggested British forces operating in the south had been involved in the bombings and, if he has suspected this, Dr. FitzGerald said, he would have pursued the matter.The Barron Report harshly criticised the Government of the day, accusing it of demonstrating little interest in bringing the bombers to justice.
Dr. FitzGerald rejected the report's criticism of the Government. He said Mr. Justice Barron had arrived at some of his conclusions because he did not understand the working of government and did not appreciate the nature of the relationship between Dublin and Downing Street.
Here is a judge who sat on the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court, adjudicating on numerous occasions vital matters of a constitutional nature and his former Taoiseach accuses him of not "understanding the workings of government".
The Barron Report also criticised the 1974 Government for neglecting to follow up a comment by the then British Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Wilson, that those responsible for the Dublin bombings had been "picked up", or interned.
Mr. Wilson made his remarks at a British-Irish Governmental meeting on 21st November 1974.Dr. FitzGerald, who was Minister for Foreign Affairs at the time, said Mr. Wilson had made his comments in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of internment, which the Irish Government was opposed to at the time.
"'This was simply a try-on by Wilson… he had his own particular angle'", Dr. FitzGerald said. Had he risen to the prime minister's baiting, the then Taoiseach, Mr. Cosgrave, would, rightly, not have been pleased."
"But Margaret Irwin, secretary of Justice for the Forgotten, said she does not understand how a Cabinet minister was unable to recall any details of what was at the time the equivalent of, in terms of per head of population, the numbers killed on September 11 in the U.S.
"Ms. Irwin, speaking after the meeting, claimed it reinforced Mr. Justice Barron's view that the Government of the day showed little interest in the bombings. The Judge based his claims largely on the lack of any mention of them in the minutes of cabinet meetings" (Irish Examiner, 28.1.2004).
"But recently released records in the UK, previously classified as secret and confidential, show that Sir Garret rushed into the domain of the Gardai when British soldiers faced the threat of prosecution in this jurisdiction" (Phoenix magazine, February 13, 2004).
"The soldiers were arrested at 1.40 a.m. on May 25, 1973, in Clones, Co. Monaghan and when questioned claimed that they had been on vehicle checkpoint duty but had lost their way and strayed into the Republic… the "Irish authorities" released the men at 6 a.m.… But it was only on foot of strenuous efforts by Sir Garret, above and beyond the call of (Irish Government) duty, that the six soldiers were released. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) later had to make a real effort to help FitzGerald in what he told them was 'proving an embarrassing incident'. Embarrassing because several locals had subsequently informed Fianna Fail TDs that the armed soldiers had surrounded a house straddling the border in pursuit of a republican suspect and that their vehicle had been seen several times well inside the border."
According to a memo from HMG's man in Dublin at the time, Sir Arthur Galsworthy:
"When Sean Donlon (the Iveagh House diplomat in charge of Anglo-Irish affairs) delivered to me a piece of paper about the Clones incident on Friday night, he told me that he and the minister had been up most of the night when the incursion took place and our troops were held by the Gardai in Monaghan."
Having failed to contact the Minister for Justice, Patrick Cooney, Dr. FitzGerald took it upon himself to instruct the Garda to release the six British marauders.
"There is no record of Paddy Cooney remonstrating with Sir Garret for usurping his role or objecting to the interference by the Foreign Minister with the Gardai. This is strange as Cooney placed even greater reliance on the doctrine of separation of government and garda powers when defending the government's apathy about the Dublin and Monaghan bombs when he appeared before the Oireachtas Committee inquiry." (SEE BELOW).
"Not even its harshest critics would have argued that the 1973-77 government of which Cooney and FitzGerald were members was that bad. But there certainly was interference with the police by ministers when the situation warranted; i.e. when the British government wanted their soldiers released on this and several other occasions. But not, apparently, when Irish citizens were murdered on a grand and unprecedented scale" (Phoenix, 13.2.2004).
British Bribery
"A retired Army bomb disposal expert has said he received intelligence just months after the 1974 Monaghan and Dublin bombings suggesting an explosives expert in the British army had armed the device in Monaghan.
"Comdt. Patrick Trears, now retired, told the hearing that the same British officer had tried to bribe him in 1974 to supply information on bombs to the British security forces.
"Comdt. Trears said a garda associate introduced him to the man. The garda brought the British soldier to Comdt. Trear's Dublin home in August, 1974. He said it was at this meeting that the British officer put it to him that he, Comdt. Trears, could benefit financially if he passed information to the British.
"The British soldier worked as a bomb-disposal expert in the North at the time, but his position also involved the gathering of intelligence on bombs. Comdt Trears said he was particularly interested in receiving information which might help him and his colleagues trace the movement of explosives across the Border.
"'The offer of a bribe was put in an 'informal way, that there'd be out of pocket expenses' and that 'I might make a few bob'. However, he never heard from the man again. Some months after the meeting he received information that the same British soldier had armed the device in Monaghan.
"'I couldn't have done a better job myself'", he said of the bombs. The level of expertise at the time among loyalist terrorists on explosives was to 'light a fuse and run', he said.
"During Comdt. Trear's evidence, the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Sean Ardagh, T.D., took proceedings into private session. When the Committee members returned, Mr. Ardagh reminded Comdt. Trears that it was outside the remit of the committee to apportion blame for, or reinvestigate, the bombings" (Irish Times-19.2.2004).
Inquests
The inquest into the deaths of the 33 people killed in the 1974 bombings is set to open on 27th April 2004, by the Dublin City Coroner, Dr. Brian Farrell.
The timing was decided by taking into account the fact that the 30th Anniversary of the bombing falls on May 17th. Dr. Farrell said he hoped the inquest would be over before that date. Family members were present in court for the hearing.
On 7th April counsel for the parties will make submissions on the scope of the inquest, including the chain of causation, the scale of evidence extending beyond the jurisdiction, and also an issue of anonymity of one witness.
The Coroner's office was already reading 1,600 statements and seeking other relevant information.
In Dublin city, inquests are normally conducted by the Coroner and the Registrar on their own. There is no procedure for counsel to present evidence on behalf of a Coroner.
Mr. Michael Mansfield, Q.C., for some families, said he estimated the inquest would take three weeks or more. There needed to be discussion on the scope of the inquest.
"The nature of the submissions should relate to the chain of causation and the sequence of witnesses, most obviously how the cars became converted to bomb cars, not just the geographical route, but the motivation route and who was responsible", he said (Irish Times, 24.1.2004).
Other inquests are also being held. The deaths of three young men killed in separate bomb blasts more than 30 years ago will be re-examined during the summer, an inquest ruled on 30th January 2004.
Two workmen were killed on 1st December 1972, when a car bomb exploded in Sackville Place in the centre of Dublin.
Less than two months later, another workman was killed at the same place by a second blast on 20th January 1973.
Dublin City Coroner's Court ruled on 30th January 2004 that the inquests would begin on 29th June 2004. To date nobody has ever been held accountable for the horrific killings.
The deaths of the three men, who had all worked for CIE, predated the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of May, 1974.
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"I lost my sister, her husband and her two children in the bombing. My sister was only 22 and had two children.
"Doors were slammed in our faces and our concerns ignored. More sinister than this was that members of the Garda special detective unit monitored our mass every year at the Pro-Cathedral. We could not even have a mass without the police force intimidating us when we were the victims at the time" (Irish Examiner, 21.1.2004).
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Paddy Cooney
The Barron Report into the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings was based on "erroneous" assumptions and was "wrong, totally wrong" in saying the government of the day failed to show concern, former Justice Minister, Patrick Cooney said before the sub-committee hearing.
Mr. Cooney said that allegations from Mr. Justice Henry Barron that the Government had cut short the garda investigation into the bombings was "wildly damaging and hurtful", and that the judge had a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the relationship between Government and gardai.
Only a public inquiry could address the shortcomings in the Barron Report, Mr. Cooney told the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on 28th January 2004. But he said such an inquiry would meet "insuperable obstacles", as Department of Justice officials and the chief investigating gardai had died.
Some of the findings in the report were "not worth the paper they were written on", he said. He said there were "well-nigh insuperable obstacles" which left Mr. Justice Barron with an "almost impossible" task.
Mr. Justice Barron he said, has "showed a lack of knowledge on a basic principle of law" in suggesting that the Attorney General could have taken an active role in the Garda investigation into the bombings.
He said the shortcomings of the final report included:
* The absence of interviews with key personnel in the investigation, as many were dead
* Missing Department of Justice files about the bombings
* The absence from the report of a list identifying witnesses interviewed
* The "limited" number of staff, lack of technical expertise about explosives, and absence of a right to cross-examine witnesses
* "Inadequate and incomplete" recordings of interviews conducted by Mr. Justice Barron with "hundreds" of witnesses over three years
* Breaches by the judge of his terms of reference, where in some instances he "joined hypotheses without evidence".
Judge Barron, he said,
"thought I should have been sitting in on the garda's shoulders telling them what to do. That would have been highly improper. This showed a serious lack of knowledge of what was practice at the time in criminal law. I vehemently reject the allegation that the government was indifferent—that is a travesty.
"That erroneous conclusion is based on the assumption that the government of the day were entitled to interfere with the operations of the guards, which ignores the system of checks and balances that ensure we live in a democracy and not in a totalitarian state. They were wrong, totally wrong, and I reject them with all the vehemence I can."
Mr. Cooney said he would welcome access to witnesses and documents used in the report, and the only way for this to happen would be in a public inquiry.
However, such an inquiry would still meet the "insuperable obstacle" that key witnesses were dead, Mr. Cooney said.
On the question of 'missing files', Mr. Cooney said that, while files relating to the bombings may have gone missing from the Department of Justice, that "did not happen under my watch", he said. The files were still in the Department as late as 1987.He added that while "every conspiracy theorist in the world clicks into action" upon mention of missing files, most of the missing documents were copies of originals which should still be held at Garda Headquarters, Dublin.
Extradition
Mr. Paddy Cooney, the former Minister for Justice, said that the question of extradition never arose because gardai never secured enough evidence to seek an application of those involved in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings.
Mr. Cooney said gardai travelling to the North to interview suspects could have presented political difficulties, as it may have set a precedent for RUC officers to begin interviewing suspects in the south.
If a suspect had been identified, and clear evidence existed linking them to the atrocities, "we would have sought the extradition. But we were unlikely to have succeeded on the basis of what was going on down here", he said.
Mr. Cooney also said he had received a list of suspects soon after the bombings and has "probably" mentioned this to a special cabinet sub-committee responsible for security.
"That list should be available from Garda records. I was aware from day one who the likely people were from information given by the RUC, but there was no evidence to prosecute them. That, unfortunately, remains the position today."
Mr. Cooney said there was no evidence to suggest possible collusion between British security forces and the loyalist bombers, and "no hard evidence" on which the Government could have taken action.
He said the gardai never requested the Government to make representations to the British government for greater co-operation from the Northern security services.
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"WE are, Mr. Cooney said, 'light years from the fraught times of 1974'" (Irish Examiner, 31.1.2004)
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Sean Donlan
A former senior diplomat, Mr. Sean Donlon, told the Oireachtas sub-committee that he believed there was British security force collusion in the 1974 bombings. "The British Army has always had units and elements in it that engaged in dirty operations".
Mr. Donlon—who was never interviewed by Mr. Justice Barron for his official report on the incident—claimed he was dismayed with the Barron report's findings in relation to collusion because it did not appear to delve into the area to any significant degree.
Mr. Donlon said that people at a senior level in the British justice system during the 1970s were aware of collusion going on, and yet did nothing to stop it. He often met a "solicitor in Dungannon" who could bring him for a meal or a drink and point out RUC men talking to other men "who weren't there for the drink".
Mr. Donlon said that if the British security forces, even rogue elements, had colluded with those who planted the 1974 bombs, the Republic's sovereignty would have been breached by the British.
"It's tantamount to declaring war. Governments should be able to control rogue elements. For the sake of our national interest this should be investigated."
Mr. Donlon worked on the Northern Ireland desk at the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1971 to 1978. He told members of the Justice Sub-committee he was appearing before them after responding to a newspaper advertisement seeking any relevant parties to come forward.
While getting the truth about the bombings would prove difficult during any public inquiry, he said, it would not be impossible.
On the possibility that an Anglo-Irish cross-jurisdictional inquiry could be set up, he said: "I would not give up hope."
The Taoiseach and British Prime Minister enjoyed a very good relationship. "The nature of Anglo-Irish relations would withstand Ireland taking the rough and tough path on this. Unless it's tried we will never know".
He had believed the Barron report would focus on collusion and that the actions or inaction of the gardai and government of the day would prove secondary. But the opposite was the case. However, part of the reason Mr. Justice Barron had not reached stronger conclusions on collusion, and other issues, was because he had been denied access to 68,000 files held by the British.
Northern Ireland Office
No evidence has been uncovered by the authorities in the North linking members of the RUC, UDR, British army or intelligence services to the Dublin/Monaghan bombings, Secretary of State Paul Murphy has claimed.
In a letter to the Oireachtas sub-committee hearings into the Barron report, Mr. Murphy said if any evidence had been found, it would have been passed on to Mr. Justice Henry Barron.
After requests to the British for information, the judge received a 10-page letter from the Northern Secretary and a further six pages detailing the workings of the security services at the time. The Northern Ireland office said there are 68,000 files of possible relevance and millions more in London's Ministry of Defence.
Mr. Justice Barron received no original files from the British authorities. Mr. Murphy declined an offer to attend the justice sub-committee hearings. The letter was in his name and those of his immediate predecessors, John Reid and Peter Mandelson.
In a letter to the Monaghan Sinn Fein TD, Caoimhghin O Caolain, the British Government has said that it gave "all relevant information" from its files to the Barron inquiry.
The assertion by the Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Ms Jane Kennedy, is in direct contrast with the conclusions of the report on the bombings by Mr. Justice Barron, in which he said that the British authorities had failed to provide sufficient information to his inquiry.
Mr. O Caolain, said it was an "extraordinary statement" considering that 68,000 files existed and Justice Barron received a 10-page document followed by a "further missive" and no original documentation.
The Sinn Fein deputy also questioned the level of effort involved in trying to locate the missing Department of Justice files linked to the bombing, and said that if files relevant to any other tribunal or investigative process in the State were missing there would be a "national scandal".
Labour leader Mr. Pat Rabbitte said it was extraordinary that files had gone missing from the Department of Justice "given that this was the greatest act of mass murder in the history of the State".
Fine Gael leader, Mr. Enda Kenny said that even a sworn public inquiry would not provide the truth about the bombings unless the British Prime Minister "guarantees that all witnesses of which his government is aware are compelled to attend and all evidence in its possession is made available".
This is bloody rich considering that our own security forces are playing ducks and drakes with the democratically elected government!
The Missing Garda Files?
It is evident that the Garda do have the 'missing' files! What a joke, no, what a travesty. The single strongest argument by the Government and the political establishment is that a sworn public inquiry would be fruitless as MI5 and MI6 are 'a law unto themselves' and refuse to hand over the relevant document to poor Mr. Blair. Yet, all the while our own security forces keep pretending that their files on the 1974 Bombing massacre are missing.
"Yesterday Mr. Justice Barron wryly remarked that the files on the UVF and the UDA for 1974 and 1975, the period that takes in the bombings and the subsequent Garda investigation of the atrocity, were missing.
"A lawyer for the relatives, Greg O'Neill, found it hard not to believe that the files had been deliberately removed, although Mr. Justice Barron was at pains to say he did not believe that anyone deliberately withheld them from his inquiry.
"Mr. Justice Barron said the files were not available in 1993 and senior gardai have been reported as saying that whether or not they still exist, they will not be released as the information in the files go to the heart of the Garda's intelligence gathering operations" (Irish Independent-4.2.2004).
Gardai had interviewed none of the original 15 people suspected of carrying out the Monaghan bombing in May, 1974, at the close of the investigation, two months after the massacre. Even though five of the men were eventually questioned in the 1990s by a television crew investigating the atrocity, gardai attended just one interview.
Mr. Justice Barron also claimed that a former garda interviewed about the Monaghan atrocity failed to give all the information he had to the inquiry team.
Add that to the Taoiseach's indication that a sworn public inquiry is unlikely and it is easy to understand why the heavens cry out for justice for the victims and relatives of the biggest mass murder in the history of the state!
Did MI5 steal the Garda files? Or were they just handed over to London for safe-keeping?
A former British Army explosives expert, Lt. Col. Nigel Wylde, told the sub-committee it was his opinion that loyalists would not have had the expertise to carry out the bombings without help.
Furthermore, he argued they did not have access to the explosives used—ammonia nitrate fuel. This was probably seized from the IRA by security forces in the North, he said.
"A man who believes he saw one of the bombers park the Parnell Street car-bomb said he was never shown any photographs of those suspected.
"Mr. Seamus Fitzpatrick said he was never treated by gardai as someone who might have had information that could have made a 'special' contribution to the investigation into the attacks." (Irish Times, 25.2.2004).
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"John Molloy was 21 years old and studying for his Leaving Certificate at the time of the bombings.
"Some months later a cheque for £50 arrived in the post from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal to compensate for his leg injuries. 'I had been brought up humble. I was living with my mother at the time, she had just been burgled. I was just glad I had something to give her."But before he could cash it, he had to sign a waiver that would prevent him from seeking further compensation." (Irish Independent-21.1.2004).
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European Convention On Human Rights
The victims and victims' relatives of the bombings will take legal action against the State if a full public inquiry into the atrocities is not established, Mr. Michael Mansfield, QC, acting on behalf of a number of the victims argued that the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights meant the Government had "little or no option other than to order a public inquiry", Mr. Mansfield said the right to life—as guaranteed in the Convention's Article Two—was violated by a failure to carry out an effective and thorough investigation following the unlawful killings.
He said one could not prejudge a properly constituted inquiry on the basis of what it might come up with.
He was confident that the British government would hand over files to a public inquiry that it had refused to the private Barron inquiry.
"If the British government refused to co-operate with a public inquiry, it could be found to be in breach of the European Convention".
Mr. Eoin McGonigal, SC, also for the families, agreed that the British would make documents available to a public inquiry. He and Mr. Mansfield recommended a public inquiry be chaired by a judge from neither Britain nor Ireland. They suggested a chairman might come from the United States.
"If an international judge of authority, and standing chaired the inquiry, it would send a message to the British that the documents will be treated with the respect that the government sending them expects, said Mr. McGonigal.
"A rich irony," is how Sam Smyth described it: "when it was the Irish government which successfully pursued a conviction of the British government's breaches of Human Rights in the European Court in the 1970s." (Irish Independent, 29.1.2004).
Dr. Colin Warbrick, a professor of law at Durham University, said any failure to call a public inquiry could leave the Government open to a challenge in the Irish courts under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Professor Warbrick said that neither the Barron inquiry nor the original Garda investigation satisfied the standards for an effective inquiry set out by the European Court of Human Rights.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties states that: "…delivering justice can no longer be subservient to political expedience". The first week of March and the recommendation of the Oireachtas Justice Committee will see whether such lofty principles apply to Dail Eireann!
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SEE "The Dublin & Monaghan Bombings" by Don Mullan—Wolfhound Press, Dublin—2000—336 pages.
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