The widow of a victim of the Dublin bombings in the early 1970s has accused successive Irish governments of failing to confront the British government on the issue.
Ms Monica Duffy-Campbell, whose husband, Tom, was killed in the December 1972 bombings, said she believed there was Irish-British "collusion" involved.
"I believe, in some way, the Irish governments, in their own way, have been involved in the collusion in the way that they never sought the truth about these bombings until now," she stated.
Ms Monica Duffy-Campbell was one of a number of relatives and survivors of the bombings who spoke at the Oireachtas sub-committee hearing yesterday, the body that is dealing with the issue in the aftermath of the publication of the Barron report.
She said she was also "astounded" that the British government had not replied to letters issued by the Baron report.
The sub-committee chairman, Mr Seán Ardagh, a Fianna Fáil TD, said all criticisms raised would now be put to Mr Justice Barron.
Ms Duffy-Campbell said that when her late husband was "murdered" on December 1st, 1972, in Sackville Place, she was four months pregnant with her son, Tom, who accompanied her to yesterday's hearing. She described the impact her husband's death has had on her life.
"My life has changed beyond belief since that night. My husband was 24 years of age. He was a young, vibrant, happy-go-lucky, hard-working, loving husband. He went out to work full of expectations about what the future might hold for us as a couple and family. The next time I was to see Tom was in a coffin in the North Strand."
She said she had received counselling for the past 10 years but had received no support from the statutory bodies.
Another victim of the Dublin bombings, Ms Lynn Cummins, said that she was three-and-a-half years old when the life of her father, George Bradshaw, was taken. She relayed the events of that day on behalf of her mother.
"Mammy heard the bombs, but she was still waiting for Daddy to come home," she said. "It was the gardaí who called, and she was never the same since. She told me the first month was a blur, people calling, the clergy and the bishops, the neighbours, even the taoiseach, who said he would look after her. She said she could still see him driving away.He was going to do great things."
Ms Cummins said she would have liked to have had the opportunity to know what it was like to have a father.
"There was something wrong with our house, there was something missing. Mammy did the best she could do. I'm so grateful to her for that."
At the start of yesterday's hearings, Mr Ardagh expressed sympathy for the victims and their relatives, and acknowledged "the great suffering endured by the victims and their families".
Mr Ardagh explained that the sub-committee was bound by precise terms of reference.
"In particular, the sub-committee is not conducting an investigation of its own into the terrible events which happened in the State from 1970 to '74, nor is it seeking to apportion any guilt or innocence to any person or body," he added.
The sub-committee resumes its hearings today.
