Parnell St bomb similar to type IRA used, says forensics expert

The former head of the State Forensic Laboratory has said that the car bomb that killed 11 people in Parnell Street, Dublin on May 17th, 1974, was consistent with bombs used by the IRA at the time.

Dr James Donovan has told the inquests on the deaths of the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings that forensic samples brought from the scene at Parnell Street contained explosives commonly used by the IRA.

However he said the bomb used could have been a copy of the IRA devices.

"I don't think it's possible to define what organisation made the bomb because these things can be copied. In my experience of other bombs, my feeling is that the bomb was consistent with the IRA ones. This is what they were using at the time."

Dr Donovan was a chemist with the State Laboratory specialising in forensic toxicology and explosives at the time of the atrocities in Dublin and Monaghan.

Following the blasts, Gardaí brought him samples of foam rubber, charred leatherette and "scrapings" from the car which held the Parnell Street bomb.

However, Dr Donovan said he was not given the samples until three days after the explosion and did not receive samples from any of the other bomb sites in Dublin or Monaghan.

He discovered just three years ago that samples from the bomb sites at Talbot Street and South Leinster Street Dublin, and Monaghan Town, had been taken to the Northern Ireland Forensic Science Laboratory.

He was never told why this was done and never received any reports from the laboratory, he said.

The materials from Parnell Street indicated that the bomb was made from ammonium nitrate crystals extracted from fertiliser and mixed with fuel oil - a substance known as ANFO. A small quantity of gelignite or dynamite was also found.

The mix found would have been very common, but in limited use. "It was what you would expect in Ireland at that time," he said.

The bomb consisted of a mix of home-made and commercial devices, but he could not gauge the volumes of different substances used.

Counsel for the Justice for the Forgotten Group, Mr Patrick Gageby asked if his assessment of the materials would have been hampered by the scene being hosed down by firemen before the samples were collected.

"Yes, ammonium nitrate would have been just washed away," he siad.

Dr Donovan never visited the scene of the explosion and had no input into what materials were brought to him.

When asked if he would have expected gardaí to retrieve the container which held the device, he said:

"Thirty years ago these bombs were a matter of great horror in the State, sometimes people are not thinking as straight as they might in calmness," Dr Donovan told the inquest, which continues.