Fund for the families of 1974 bomb victims

Relatives of the victims of the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings are included in a fund to compensate victims of the Northern Troubles and their families living in the Republic which was announced yesterday by the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell.

A statement from the Department said the Government had approved expenditure of €9 million for the anticipated three-year lifetime of the fund. The fund is to be known as the "remembrance fund" and will be administered by a five-person commission which will be appointed later in the year.

"Acknowledgement" payments of €15,000 will be paid to each of the bereaved families of persons who either were killed in the Republic or were resident there at the time of the person's death.

Lump sums not exceeding the same amount will be paid spouses and dependent children of victims, and any injured victim subject to conditions.

Medical costs will also be paid in certain circumstances, as well as relocation payments of up to €15,000 to those who have had to move as a direct consequence of the Northern conflict.

Counselling needs for the injured will be met by health boards or by victims' support groups such as the Justice for the Forgotten group.

The group was set up following recommendations made by the Victims Commission, which was established by the Government, under the chairmanship of a former Tánaiste, Mr John Wilson, in the aftermath of the Belfast Agreement.

Last night the chairman of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body, Fianna Fáil deputy Mr Brendan Smith, said that the fund would acknowledge and address the suffering of the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. "The publication of the finds of the Barron inquiry should help answer the questions of the relatives."

Mr Smith said: "Almost three decades after the atrocity, it is unacceptable that the families do not know the full circumstances of the bombings, or who took the lives of their loved ones, or if the bombings involved British intelligence or security services." The Barron report should help bring closure for the relatives, he said.