The Government will consider Mr Justice Barron's report on the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings next week, the Taoiseach said.
Mr Ahern added that the report would be forwarded to the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights. The report would be published by the committee and considered in public session.
Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) said the bombings were the cause of huge trauma for victims, their families and friends. "Does the Taoiseach agree that the investigation into this outrage, and particularly the publication of the conclusions of that investigation, are being looked to by many of those who were concerned and have suffered, as a form of catharsis to an awful tragedy, a resolution, perhaps, in so far as that is possible, to questions which have lingered ever since?"
Mr Ahern said he was committed to see the report through Cabinet next week and then on to the committee as soon as possible.Publication of the report was a matter for the committee.
Even if names were suppressed, it would be his intention that the details, as presented by Mr Justice Barron, were given to the committee. "However, I believe we have to be careful, for obvious reasons, about the security of individuals named in the report. "
Mr Ahern said that reports on the Sackville Place bombings in the early 1970s, the Seamus Ludlow case and the Dundalk bombings, would come in separate reports from Mr Justice Barron within the next few months.
