The Oireachtas sub-committee on Justice and Law Reform has recommended holding a series of inquiries into aspects of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings that killed 33 people including a pregnant woman and injured more than 250 others on May 17th, 1974.
In doing so, it has sought to transfer responsibility for major elements of the investigation to the British Government, urging that a tribunal of inquiry should be established in Britain or Northern Ireland. It has recommended that separate investigations should be held in this jurisdiction into how the Garda Síochána responded to the bombings and why official files went missing.
The sub-committee has taken the easy option, absolving Irish governments from primary responsibility and publicly proposing a bilateral solution without consulting the British Government. It has suggested a preliminary investigation in Northern Ireland into responsibility for the bombings, of the kind conducted into paramilitary murders last year by former Canadian Supreme Court judge, Mr Peter Cory, to be followed by a full sworn inquiry. It appears unlikely the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, will respond positively. He is already faced with the prospect of establishing four public inquiries into the murders of Mr Pat Finucane, Mr Robert Hamill, Ms Rosemary Nelson and Mr Billy Wright, following commitments he gave to the Northern Ireland political parties at Weston Park in 2001. Judge Cory's report on those murders will be published later today.
Given the 30-year time lapse and the persistent failure of the British authorities to co-operate with the inquiry of Mr Justice Henry Barron, whose report led to these recommendations from the Oireachtas sub-committee, investigations of the kind proposed are not likely to receive enthusiastic support from Mr Blair. The approach may have been designed to mollify the bereaved families who have been badly treated by the State over many years. They found some positive elements in the recommendations last night.
It is now five years since the former tánaiste, Mr John Wilson, reported to the Coalition Government on the needs and concerns of the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and recommended that a Supreme Court judge should conduct an inquiry. There were unforeseen difficulties and delays. Mr Justice Barron issued a report last December in which he found it was "probably and more than likely" there had been collusion between members of the RUC, the UDR and the UVF bombers. A lack of co-operation by the British authorities caused him to withhold judgment on whether that collusion had involved British military intelligence.
The Government has now been asked to persuade Mr Blair to co-operate with a preliminary investigation and proceed to a full inquiry. That is a challenging finding. But, it remains a blight on this State that justice for the victims of the biggest bombing atrocities in this jurisdiction in the years of the Troubles is still awaited.