A chara, - Monday, May 17th, is the 25th anniversary of the Dublin/Monaghan bombings, the worst atrocity of the Troubles and the single biggest massacre in the history of the State. It is incredible that, a quarter-of-a-century later, nobody has been brought to justice for these crimes, even though the Garda was able to list some 20 suspects within weeks.
For the past 25 years, relatives of the 34 people killed and hundreds injured have been seeking for answers but with absolutely no success. There appears to be an extreme reluctance by the authorities to properly investigate the massacre and bring those responsible to justice.
How can the public accept that the then Minister for Justice, Paddy Cooney, who had access to all the files, has never commented on the situation publicly? Successive justice ministers have been just as evasive.
Some years ago, when Yorkshire TV was researching its documentary The Hidden Hand, the Taoiseach at the time of the bombings, Liam Cosgrave, refused to answer any questions about them. As members of the Government, these people were duty-bound to protect the public from such horrendous acts of violence. I can't imagine any other country being so lax about investigating one of the biggest mass murders of the century.
There is a moral obligation for people to explain their inaction and the failure of the Irish authorities as a whole to fully investigate and bring to justice those responsible. The public has a right to know how such atrocities could happen, who was responsible and why no-one was apprehended. If these questions are not answered how can be sure it will never happen again?
The new evidence revealed in March of this year by the Justice for the Forgotten campaign claims to identify members of the RUC and British Military Intelligence as having active involvement in these events. It also raises serious questions about the whole management of the Garda inquiries into the bombings and the failure by Garda authorities to pursue lines of inquiry which may have led to the killers being apprehended.
As someone who has campaigned on this issue for many years, I believe that the investigation into this matter must be reopened and a full public sworn judicial inquiry must be held.
The horrendous events of Omagh are a sharp reminder of the tragedies that resulted from the no-warning bombings of Dublin and Monaghan. Among the tragedies in Dublin in 1974, an entire young family was wiped out: a young mother, father and their two little children, aged 17 months and five months. A pregnant mother who was soon to give birth was also killed, but her baby has never been included in the death toll. - Is mise,
Patricia McKenna MEP, Offices of the European Parliament, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.