Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid is to meet the Irish judge investigating the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which killed 33 people, the Northern Ireland Office confirmed today.
Dr Reid will meet Mr Justice Henry Barron tomorrow at the Northern Ireland Office in London to discuss the continuing inquiry into the bombings.
The meeting comes after months of pressure from bereaved relatives and victims for the British authorities to hand over security documents relating to the attacks.
Members of the pressure group Justice for the Forgotten have accused Britain of "dragging its heels" in its response to a formal request made by the Barron Inquiry 11 months ago.
They have claimed that the speed of Britain's compliance with the inquiry has heightened suspicions that British security services complied with loyalist paramilitaries to plant the bombs.
Britain has said the sheer volume of files that have to be searched is a lengthy process.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has raised the issue in the Dáil and discussed it with his British counterpart Tony Blair at a meeting of the British-Irish Council at Dublin Castle at the end of last year.
The attacks caused devastation on May 17 1974, when three car bombs exploded in Dublin, killing 26 people, just minutes before a fourth blast in Monaghan killed seven more.
The attacks caused the biggest loss of life in a single day of the Troubles.
PA