THE families of the victims of the 1974 bombings in Dublin and Monaghan have called for a judicial inquiry into the atrocity which killed 33 people and left hundreds injured.
The group - calling itself Justice for the Forgotten - wants the inquiry to look at the investigations conducted by the gardai and the RUC. Members complain that 22 years have elapsed and no one has been brought to justice. They are seeking a meeting with the Taoiseach and the main political parties.
Mr Greg O'Neill, solicitor for the group, said the setting up of an inquiry would save the families from having to go to the legal expense of securing justice.
This week the group is going to the High Court to get the Garda Commissioner to release documents which members believe contain the names of UVF bombers responsible. They will then bring a case to the European Court of Human Rights against Britain.
Mr O'Neill said the results of an inquiry here would be of assistance to the case in the European Court. The families and the public wanted to know what happened.
"There have been no answers and no one has been charged. There has been no adequate political or legal answers to the questions asked by the relatives over the years as to why investigations had gone nowhere."
At a press conference in Dublin yesterday, the group said television documentaries and the media had suggested involvement by elements of the British security forces with loyalist terrorists suspected of carrying out the bombings.
"A great deal is known about how the bombings were carried out," a statement asserted. "It is known that the placing of the cars containing the bombs and the timing of the explosions were carried out with military precision. Expert opinion available indicates the involvement of personnel with sophisticated military training exhibiting the kind of expertise which, according to security intelligence, was not available to loyalist paramilitary organisations at the time.
"It has been confirmed by the RUC that a list of suspects, compiled by the gardai, was made available to it and that a number of persons were arrested and interviewed in relation to the theft of, the motor vehicles used in the bombings, but no prosecution was initiated against any individual."