The former Labour Northern Ireland front bench spokesman has called on the
British and Irish governments to jointly set up an inquiry with full
judicial powers to look into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.
Labour MP Kevin McNamara believes that the clear limitations placed on Judge
Henry Barron's inquiry into the bombings by the British government's refusal
to co-operate make a Saville style judicial inquiry imperative.
On 17 May 1974, three car bombs exploded without warning in the centre of Dublin during the afternoon rush-hour. A total of 400lb of explosives had
been driven south in three stolen or hijacked cars from Belfast. They were
parked near the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, outside O'Neill's
shoe-shop and on a busy street near the Irish parliament.
The bombs exploded with military precision within 90 seconds of each other.
Some 26 people were killed and hundreds of injured survivors were pulled
from the rubble into ambulances, private cars and a bus to be ferried to
crowded hospitals.
A fourth car bomb exploded without warning 90 minutes later in Monaghan,
killing seven people.
"The Ministry of Defence in particular seem to have refused to co-operate
with the Barron Inquiry making a Saville style inquiry with the requisite
judicial powers to force disclosure now a vital next step on the path to
obtaining the truth and justice for the victims of that day," said McNamara.
McNamara believes that such a joint British-Irish inquiry could be set up
under the 1921 Tribunals of Inquiry Act (pre-Partition legislation that
remains on the statute book in both jurisdictions). Such a Tribunal could
draw judges from the UK and Ireland and have the powers to demand documents,
subpoena witnesses and take evidence under oath from security forces on both
sides of the border and MI5 in London. The Inquiry could sit in both Ireland
and the UK.
McNamara is supported in his call by former MI6 officer Fred Holroyd who
gave evidence to Barron and blew the whistle on the collusion between
Loyalists paramilitaries and the British security forces. "A public inquiry
is what there has got to be now. Then I shall take the stand and tell
everything, naming names. Someone has got to tell the truth," said Holroyd.
"Remember, this was an act of war by the British against the Irish."
Holroyd also wants to know why the British Prime Minister who is a close
friend of the Taoiseach does not force the MOD to open its files. "Why also
is Ahern not asking Blair to do that?" said Holroyd.
The Barron report published last week revealed how the refusal of the
British Government to co-operate had limited the scope of its investigation.
After pledging to "respond sympathetically and in a positive spirit to any
request for information or assistance" the Barron Inquiry was ultimately
frustrated.
At a meeting on 17 January 2002 with the then Secretary of State John Reid
Barron was told that there were 68,000 files at the Northern Ireland Office
of possible relevance and literally millions in the Ministry of Defence. A
month later Reid produced that information in a 10 page letter together with
six page appendage giving details of the structure and controls on
intelligence gathering in Northern Ireland at the time.
Some further information was supplied in subsequent letters from the present
Secretary of State Paul Murphy but no original documentation.
Barron expresses his understanding for the British Government's position on
these matters but notes that "the scope of this report is limited as a
result."
SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the British government must face the fact that
it failed to co-operate. "It treated Justice Barron's efforts with little
more than contempt, a silence that behoves contempt," he said.
Greg O'Neill, the solicitor representing the Justice for the Forgotten
group, said the British government must choose "whether or not it wants to
be eternally suspected of being involved in supporting terrorism".
The relatives of the victims walked out of the press conference launching
the Barron report declaring it a shambles.
Among the most pertinent of the Barron Inquiry findings were that in a
"short time security forces in Northern Ireland had good intelligence
indicating who was responsible."
The Inquiry concluded that bombings were carried out by two groups of
Loyalist paramilitaries from the UVF, one from Belfast the other from
Portadown/Lurgan.
The attacks were aimed at undermining the Sunningdale power-sharing
agreement which outlined a role for the Irish government in the
administration of Northern Ireland.
"A finding that members of the security forces in Northern Ireland could
have been involved in the bombings is neither fanciful or absurd, given the
number of instances in which similar illegal activity has been proven.
However the material assessed by the Inquiry is insufficient to suggest that
senior members of the security forces in Northern Ireland were in any way
involved in the bombings," says the report.
The report points out that "loyalist groups who carried out the bombings in
Dublin were capable of doing so without help from any section of the
security forces in Northern Ireland, though this does not rule out the
involvement of individual RUC, UDR or British army members."
On the preparation of the bombs the Inquiry concludes that "it is likely
that the farm of James Mitchell at Glenanne played a significant part in the
preparation for the attacks. It is also likely that members of the UDR and
RUC either participated in, or were part of those preparations."
