‘Strategy of amnesia simply not an option’, says Higgins

President Michael D Higgins has called on the British government to allow independent, international access to documents relating to "atrocities that occurred in this jurisdiction" – including the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

Mr Higgins said “asking people to forget about the past and to ‘move on’ is neither acceptable in a moral sense nor workable in political terms”.

He made his comments at a reception for members of Justice for the Forgotten at Áras an Uachtaráin, to mark the 40th anniversary of the bombings.

Addressing the group, which included family members of those killed in the bombings, he said “a strategy of amnesia is simply not an option”.

Hope

Mr Higgins said he shared their hope "and that of the Irish Government that the British government can find a way to respond positively to this measured and constructive proposal". He noted he was reiterating all-party Dáil motions passed in 2008 and again in 2011.

He said his state visit to Britain and that of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland was "in contrast to the terrible events of 1974" and was evidence of a "positive and resounding change which had occurred in recent years in British-Irish relations".

He said both sides, “confident in the maturity of the relationship” must be willing to encourage each other “to do more in addressing the needs of victims and survivors. The Dublin Monaghan bombings is clearly a case where more is required”.

Mr Higgins thanked Justice for the Forgotten and the Pat Finucane Centre for the “vital work they undertake in relation to dealing with the past”.

Kevin O'Loughlin of Justice for the Forgotten said the book Lethal Allies by journalist Anne Cadwallader had documented collusion between the British authorities and loyalists. He said the families would continue to search for the truth.

Collusion

Allegations of collusion between British military authorities and loyalist killers have repeatedly surfaced in relation to a number of atrocities going back more than 40 years.

These included bombs in Belturbet, Co Cavan, in 1972; three attacks in Dublin in 1973, 1974 and 1975; and a bombing in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, in 1976.

In the Dublin bombings of May 1974 some 34 people were killed. In 1999 the government commissioned an inquiry from retired Supreme Court Judge Henry Barron, who issued a number of reports. He did not definitively blame the British government, but did express regret that it did not allow him to see any original documents in its possession.

The family of civil servant Josephine Bradley, who was killed in the Talbot Street blast in 1974, said yesterday the invitation to the Áras was "hugely significant" as an acknowledgment of their loss.