Report summary:The final report of the commission of investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of May 1974 examined why the Garda investigation was wound down later the same year and why some of the documentation subsequently went missing.
Patrick MacEntee SC, the sole member of the commission, was also charged with reporting on why gardaí did not follow up certain alleged leads.
In his report Mr MacEntee details his contacts with the British government following his request for assistance. In November 2005, the British government offered the commission an opportunity to meet officials from the Northern Ireland Office, the British ministry of defence and the British security service (MI5).
"Following further correspondence from the commission on these matters, the British government furnished the commission with the fruits of its inquiries. In these targeted areas of investigation the British government has, over a period of time, materially assisted the commission by disclosing material relevant to certain of the matters under investigation by the commission," stated the report.
It added, however, that one of the documents was supplied as a photocopy of part of a document. But a request by the commission for the full document was turned down. The report concluded that it had been too limited in the scope of its investigation by not having access to original intelligence documents in the possession of the British government.
In relation to the Garda inquiry the commission accepted that the investigation was "wound down" in 1974 but if found no evidence of any decision by the Garda to close down the investigations into the atrocities.
Mr MacEntee could not establish the dates on which the Dublin or the Monaghan investigation teams were finally disbanded, or the dates on which the incident rooms ceased to be occupied or used for the purposes of the investigation.
"Having reviewed the evidence available to it, the commission has identified only one 'lead' in which a significant number of inquiries could have been carried out in this jurisdiction but were not. This 'lead' concerns the alleged sighting by an unknown informant of a lorry and three men near the border on the evening of the bombings. The reasons why the inquiries identified by the commission were not carried out [ assuming that they were not in fact carried out] could not be established."
The commission also said that the full extent of communication and co-operation between the Garda investigation teams and the RUC could not be established, because of the inadequacy of the Garda record.
"Concerning the decision by the Garda investigation team not to have a particular suspect interviewed by the RUC in Northern Ireland, the commission concludes that there were good and adequate reasons for making such a decision at the time, and that it is highly probable that the gardaí made that decision with those reasons in mind, having considered all of the relevant factors.
"Concerning the forensic aspect of the investigations into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, it is impossible to say, on the basis of the evidence made available to the commission, whether a properly handled forensic investigation would have resulted in lines of inquiry which might have prolonged the life of the investigation by helping the gardaí to advance further towards identifying and bringing to justice those responsible for either bombing.
"Because the commission cannot identify the date on which any given item of documentation relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings went missing, it is impossible to say whether the winding down of the investigation in 1974 was affected by the loss or destruction of relevant documentation.
"The commission is satisfied that there is no evidence available to it which is capable of establishing any connection between the collusion alleged and the 'winding down' of the Garda investigations into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings."
The commission was asked to examine the presence of a white van in Dublin on the day of the bombing and later at the B&I ferry port.
It managed to track down the man who drove the van. He was a member of the British Territorial Army who ran a small transport company and was in Dublin with a Bedford van on business on the day of the bombing.
"From the information available to the commission, it is clearly incorrect to say that the Garda investigation team did not follow up on the information provided by the person who alerted them to the presence of the white van near Aldborough House.
"Having carried out inquiries at the dock area, including interviewing the driver of the white van, an experienced Special Branch detective reached the conclusion that the driver of the van in question 'was in no way connected' with the bombings.
"The Garda investigation team did not leave matters there. A further check was carried out with the police in England. The nature of the information received in response to that check, if there was any such information, is not recorded, but the commission is satisfied that the Garda investigation team believed it sufficient to let the matter rest there."
Mr MacEntee also looked into a report from Army intelligence in relation to the same van which suggested that during a Garda search of the B&I ferry a British army officer was taken off and weapons found in his bag.
"The commission has not found any information which corroborates the allegation recorded in the Army intelligence document. The absence of any reference to such an incident in the material disclosed to the commission by An Garda Síochána, the Department of the Marine and Irish Ferries strongly suggests that the incident described in the Army intelligence document did not take place."
Another allegation investigated was that gardaí did not follow up on a lead regarding a British army corporal allegedly sighted in Dublin at the time of the bombings. The commission tracked down the former corporal and conducted a lengthy interview with him. Mr MacEntee concluded that the man was a credible and truthful witness and had no connection with the bombings. The commission concludes that:
The information given to gardaí by the person who claimed to have seen a named British army corporal in Dublin on May 15th, 1974, was neither reliable nor likely to further the investigation and was recognised as such by the gardaí concerned.
The steps taken by gardaí to follow up the information provided by this person were appropriate and adequate in the circumstances obtaining at the time.
In relation to missing Garda documents the commission found that it was not possible to establish how or why or even when the documents went missing. It noted the difficulty in locating missing documentation was that it was not possible to identify those that were missing.
"Since the original investigations . . . were wound down, the integrity of the Garda files resulting from those investigations has not been maintained.
"There has been no adequate review by the Garda Síochána of the integrity of the Dublin and Monaghan investigation files . . . It is not possible to give a full account of the exact Garda documentation which is missing, relevant to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings."