Group confident of Dublin-Monaghan bomb inquiry

The group representing victims and relatives of those killed in the 974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings said today it was confident a public inquiry would be ordered.

Justice for the Forgotten claims there is strong evidence British security forces participated and colluded with loyalists in the bombings on May 17th, 1974 in which 33 people died and hundreds were injured.

They also allege "a senior element" of An Garda Síochána was actively involved in a cover-up after the attacks.

A sub-committee of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice finished six weeks of public hearings into the Barron report last week. The committee, chaired by the Mr Seán Ardagh TD, is to announce later this week whether to call on the Government to initiate a public inquiry into the bombings.

Justice for the Forgotten says a number of issues highlighted by Mr Justice Barron's report have not been addressed since it was released three months ago. "The end result is a scandal that has intensified and given rise to alarming concerns," it said in a statement.

The statement said the Oireachtas committee had heard new evidence to support their suspicions of collusion. They noted that not only did the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, and the former Irish Ambassador to the US, Mr Seán Donlan, say they believed there was collusion between British forces and loyalists, but British and Irish Army Ordnance officers testified that the Dublin bombs were beyond the competence of the UVF acting alone.

The group also said it believed gardaí were implicated in a cover-up because they refused to arrest two prime suspects. It said the investigations into the bombings were closed prematurely without explanation and files on loyalists were "deliberately removed and concealed".

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, told the committee last Wednesday he was reluctant to hold an inquiry, citing the difficulty in securing records from British secret services. He also said an inquiry would cost tens of millions of euro over several years.

A lawyer for some of the victims and families, Mr Michael Mansfield QC, said last month that he would take legal action against the State on behalf of his clients if a public inquiry was not ordered.