The families of those killed and injured in three separate Dublin bombings in 1972 and 1973 will take little comfort from the report by Mr Justice Henry Barron into the events.
As was the case with his investigation into subsequent bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in 1974, an unwillingness by the British authorities to co-operate and to provide the necessary files and information has led to the production of highly critical but inconclusive findings.
The events examined by Mr Justice Barron in his latest report had been submerged by the horrors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. The sheer scale of death and destruction in the later assaults caused public attention to be distracted from the earlier atrocities. Three people died and 185 were injured in the bombings of 1972/73. They represented the first serious attack on innocent civilians in the Republic and had a lasting impact.
In particular, the bombs at Eden Quay and Sackville Place in December, 1972, facilitated the passage of tough anti-terrorist legislation through the Dáil under a vulnerable Fianna Fáil government by ensuring the co-operation of Fine Gael. At the time, and for years afterwards, there was a strong suspicion that British intelligence operatives had been involved.
In his report, Mr Justice Barron noted that while aspects of the 1972 bombings had not reflected a traditional loyalist pattern and a strong case had been made for British security involvement, he had found no evidence to substantiate it. Collusion by the security forces would remain a suspicion. Unlike his report on the 1974 bombings, when he found it "probable and more than likely" there had been collusion between the RUC, the UDR and the UVF, he drew no such conclusion on this occasion. Rather, he said, suspicion of their involvement was not as strong.
Given the deliberate and consistent lack of co-operation by the British authorities and the limited ability of the Garda Síochána to investigate the crimes, the report adds little to what was public knowledge. At the time, relations between the British and Irish governments were under intense strain and co-operation between the Garda Síochána and the RUC was extremely limited. In the circumstances, because any hint of collusion by the security forces would have enormous consequences for Anglo-Irish relations, the government shied away from confronting it. In the process, the rights of those citizens who were killed and injured were accorded scant attention.
The Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights will now examine the detail of the second Barron report over the coming months. It is expected to invite the surviving victims of the bombings, along with their families and relatives, to give evidence about the impact on their lives of those events. That process, in which the suffering of innocent citizens is publicly recognised and properly valued, may become the most positive element of this exercise.