Survivors of the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings and families of those killed have been telling a Dáil committee of their experiences today.
Appearing at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, the victims and families said the findings of the Barron Report demand a public sworn inquiry should be carried out into the atrocities.
Alice O'Brien
Ms Alice O'Brien - who lost her sister, her brother-in-law and their two children in the Parnell Street, Dublin, bombing - said the government of the day had done nothing and the subsequent Garda investigation had come to nothing.
She said: "The door has been shut in our faces many times and we hope that this is at last an opening. I am here today to plead for a public inquiry."
Committee chairman Mr Sean Ardagh said the function of the hearings was to assess what lessons might be learned from the Barron report and whether a public inquiry would be fruitful.
The report by Mr Justice Henry Barron, who investigated the bombings, concluded in December that the Fine Gael/Labour coalition government led by Mr Liam Cosgrave showed "little interest" in pursuing the perpetrators.
The independent commission of inquiry chaired by Mr Justice Barron found that evidence did not exist to support charges that the Northern Ireland security authorities colluded with loyalist paramilitaries in the no-warning bombings, which killed 33 people, including a pregnant woman, on May 17th, 1974.
It says the loyalists involved in the Dublin bombing were "capable of doing so without help" from any security forces in the North, "though this does not rule out the involvement of individual RUC, UDR or British army members".
A statement today by the Justice for the Forgotten group, which represents victims and survivors of the bombings, said they are entitled under the European Convention of Human Rights to a public inquiry.
The committee this morning heard one-by-one personal experiences of the day of bombing. A statement by the Justice for the Forgotten group said families and victims felt a sense of "abandonment and marginalisation".
"Years of neglect and disregard were compounded by being consciously and deliberately misled by the very people whose duty it was to protect and vindicate them," the group said in a statement.
"The Barron Report raises many more questions than answers. The litany of strange events which occurred on that day for which no explanation is given, is deeply disturbing," it added.
"The abject failures in the response of the Garda and the Security Forces in Northern Ireland in terms of the investigation of the mass murders and maiming of hundreds are breathtaking."
The Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, and two of his predecessors, Dr John Reid and Mr Peter Mandelson, have also been asked to appear before the committee. It is understood a senior officer in the Police Service of Northern Ireland has also been asked to appear.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said at a meeting yesterday with Mr Tony Blair that it would be appreciated if British officials asked to co-operate would do so.
