Dublin/Monaghan bombings inquest: The Garda files on the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings contain no reference to Northern Ireland security forces involvement in the atrocities, the inquest on the victims of the bombings has heard.
Despite evidence from a number of Garda witnesses to the inquest that gardaí believed the UVF were assisted by security forces in perpetrating the four bombings, the suspicion is not logged in any Garda files dating from this time.
Det Supt John O'Mahony, currently in charge of the bombing files, has told the inquest that 21 suspects were identified by gardaí in relation to the bombings. Six of those were believed to have been involved in the Dublin incident, while 15 suspects were listed for the Monaghan bombs. Four of the suspects were interviewed about the Dublin bombs, he said.
There were indications that each individual was a member of a loyalist paramilitary organisation. However, he said: "There is no mention of any of them being in the police force, the reserve police force or the army".
On the balance of probability, he said it was the conclusion in the Garda file that the UVF was responsible for the bombings in both Dublin and Monaghan.
This conclusion was based on the cars stolen for use in the bombings, the intelligence that had been gathered and the photographs shown to witnesses.
The Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, asked if, on the balance of probability, the Garda suspected the involvement of security forces from outside the State in the atrocities.
Det Supt O'Mahony said there was "no evidence and no intelligence" to suggest so on the files.
"The consideration of collusion would have been there for the investigators at the time, but there is no evidence of it on the files. There may have been plenty of suspicion, but no evidence of collusion," he said.
Counsel for the Justice for the Forgotten Group, Mr Cormac Ó Dúlacháin, put it to Det Supt O'Mahony that there was some discrepancy between the Garda files and the Army files from the time of the bombings.
The Army report on the bombings had information in relation to a Northern Ireland or British-registered white van, which Mr Roger Keane, who gave evidence to the inquest on Thursday, had reported to the gardaí as suspicious.
The Army report made reference to the individual driving the van being detained at the docks and to his possessing weapons, Mr Ó Dúlacháin said. The incident is not contained in the Garda files.
Mr O'Mahony said he believed that if the Garda investigators had considered it relevant it would have been followed up.
In a separate incident, the day before the bombings, Garda Kieran Kenny had reported a reported seeing a yellow Northern Ireland registered Hertz hire van in the Summerhill area of Dublin.
The RUC was contacted but claimed the van was not in Dublin on that particular day.The PSNI Chief Constable of Northern Ireland, Mr Hugh Orde, has refused to attend the inquest to address this and other matters.
