The Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, has said he will meet the head of the inquiry into the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, Mr Justice Henry Barron, soon. He said the delay in such a meeting, which has been the subject of criticism, was caused by the large number of files to be gone through.
Dr Reid was speaking following a meeting in Dublin yesterday with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen.
Responding to criticism that the British government was delaying the provision of information to the Barron Inquiry. Dr Reid said there was a huge amount of work involved in checking 68,000 files.
However, the Sinn FΘin president, Mr Gerry Adams, said it was not enough for the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to simply say he would co-operate with the inquiry. "He has to go beyond the rhetoric . . . It isn't enough just to touch the issue and make positive sounds about it. You have to go forward in a much deeper way."
Mr Adams, who was speaking after a meeting yesterday evening with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said the British government "could not portray itself internationally as a champion of human rights while in this country you have the type of incidents in Dublin and Monaghan which have yet to be highlighted within the British system".
"That's why the decision by the SDLP, for example, to join the Policing Board was such a major technical mistake because what it did was take the British government off the hook." Last month Mr Ahern suggested that the British government had been slow to co-operate with the inquiry as allegations persist that British security forces colluded in the attacks.
The meeting between Dr Reid and Mr Justice Barron is to seek access to British files he first asked for eight months ago relating to his inquiry into the bombings.
The Taoiseach told the Dβil last month the British government had only agreed to the meeting after considerable pressure and some time. Last March, he said Dr Reid had indicated that the British search of files was nearly complete and that a reply should be issued soon. his had not happened.
The meeting in Dublin was also attended by the chairman of the International Decommissioning Body, Gen John de Chastelain. Gen de Chastelain said the body should be able to complete its remit.
Following the meeting both Mr Cowen and Mr Reid praised the general and Mr Cowen said he had informed them that he and his colleagues remained fully engaged in carrying out their mandate and achieving further progress in the process of putting paramilitary arms, both Loyalist and Republican, beyond use.
"We understand that there is and has been loyalist engagement with the de Chastelain body but obviously it hasn't been able to report the sort of progress we have seen on the republican paramilitary side," said Mr Cowen.
Dr Reid said the deadline set recently by the anti-Belfast Agreement wing of the Ulster Unionist Party, attempting to force the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, to set a deadline for a further act of IRA decommissioning by February was unrealistic. Mr Trimble overcame the challenge at the weekend.
"The general has told us today that he believes further progress can be made to enable the commission to advance towards the completion of its remit. My own belief is that it is an essential part of the Good Friday agreement that all paramilitary groups, including those that have not made a start, should put weapons beyond use." He added: "I do not think anyone expects that all paramilitary organisations will have completed all decommissioning by February next year."
He said that if laws had to be changed to facilitate groups who carry out decommissioning he would make a decision and announce it.
Mr Adams discussed the matter with Mr Ahern in a meeting yesterday afternoon. He said the main focus of the meeting had been a discussion about the killings of Lurgan solicitor, Ms Rosemary Nelson and Belfast solicitor Mr Pat Finucane "as a result of collusion between the British forces and loyalists" and the collapse of the case against Mr William Stobie, who was charged with Mr Finucane's murder 12 years ago.
"I think it is an illustration of the resistance within the British system to dealing with this matter. The Irish Government has supported the family's case." He is to write to Mr Blair asking him for a judicial inquiry into that "very, very dastardly business, where the State colludes with other forces to kill citizens of the State".