Collusion Found in Dublin/Monaghan Report Findings

Irish American Information Service

The long-awaited Barron report into the 1974 Dublin- Monaghan bombings has found evidence of collusion between some elements of the British security forces and the loyalists paramilitaries which carried out the atrocities.

Judge Barron's report into the bombings, which left 33 people dead, was critical of police on both sides of the Border.

The bombings took place while Protestant workers held a general strike in Northern Ireland to bring down the power- sharing government in Northern Ireland set up under the Sunningdale Agreement.

Three perfectly timed car bombs killed 26 people and injured hundreds more during rush-hour in Dublin on May 17 1974, in what was described as "daylight hell". An hour later a stolen car exploded outside a pub in the border town of Monaghan, killing seven people.

It was the biggest mass murder in the history of the Irish Republic. No one claimed responsibility for the slaughter, and no one has stood trial. Some 240 people were injured in the attacks.

Many, particularly in Dublin, believe the bombings were a warning shot from British intelligence for the Irish government not to interfere in Northern Ireland. At least three of the bombing team, all now dead, have been identified as paid British informers.

Jane Winter, the director of British Irish Rights Watch, a human rights monitoring group which made detailed submissions to the investigation, said: "Forensic evidence suggested that the bombs in Dublin were very much more sophisticated than any bombs loyalists had used before or since. All went off within one and a half minutes of each other - a technical achievement never matched before or since. The implication is that they had outside help in making these bombs."

She said if collusion were found, there would be grave consequences for Britain internationally. "Here we are gaily telling the world how to run its own human rights affairs and holding ourselves up as an example of a developed democracy which doesn't do wicked things. But if Britain did collude with loyalists to bomb another country, that is an act of war."

Speaking in the Dail (Irish parliament), the Tanaiste Harney thanked Mr. Justice Barron on behalf of the Irish Government for his work on the report, and said she had no doubt its findings would be debated in the House in the New Year.

The Oireachtas committee met in private this afternoon to consider the report and is expected to discuss its contents with its author, Justice Henry Barron.

A report into the bombings and allegations that British security services colluded with the loyalist paramilitary UVF was ordered more than three years ago by the Irish Government. No one has ever been charged in connection with the offenses.

Representatives of Justice for the Forgotten, which represents about 150 survivors of the attacks and victims', met the Taoiseach in private at Government Buildings today. The group is expected to call for a full public inquiry.

Earlier the attorney for the bereaved families, Mr. Greg O'Neill, said he has been led to believe that the Judge has "drawn conclusions which appear to be quite stark."

Those who died in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings on 17th May, 1974 are as follows:

Patrick Askin (44) Co. Monaghan
Josie Bradley (21) Co. Offaly
Marie Butler (21) Co. Waterford
Anne Byrne (35) Dublin
Thomas Campbell (52) Co. Monaghan
Simone Chetrit (30) France
Thomas Croarkin (36) Co. Monaghan
John Dargle (80) Dublin
Concepta Dempsey (65) Co. Louth
Colette (20) & Baby Doherty, Dublin
Patrick Fay (47), Dublin & Co. Louth
Elizabeth Fitzgerald (59) Dublin
Breda Bernadette Grace (34) Dublin and Co. Kerry
Archie Harper (73) Co. Monaghan
Antonio Magliocco, (37) Dublin & Italy
May McKenna (55) Co. Tyrone
Anne Marren (20) Co. Sligo
Anna Massey (21) Dublin
Dorothy Morris (57) Dublin
John (24), Anna (22), Jacqueline (17 months) & Anne-Marie
(5 months) O'Brien, Dublin
Christina O'Loughlin (51), Dublin
Edward John O'Neill (39), Dublin
Baby Martha O'Neill, Dublin, (Stillborn)
Marie Phelan (20), Co. Waterford
Siobion Roice (19), Wexford Town
Maureen Shields (46), Dublin
Jack Travers (28), Monaghan Town
Breda Turner (21), Co. Tipperary
John Walsh (27), Dublin
Peggy White (44), Monaghan Town
George Williamson (72), Co. Monaghan

Dec. 10, 2003

Reaction to Publication of 
Dublin/Monaghan Inquiry

The Irish premier, Bertie Ahern, faced pressure tonight for a public inquiry into the Dublin-Monaghan bomb atrocities dating back more than 30 years.

Responding to the report from former Supreme Court judge Justice Henry Barron on the 1974 attacks, Mr Ahern described the incidents as "unspeakable outrages and despicable and cowardly acts of inhumanity."

But he said the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice would now study the Barron findings - which directed criticism at both the British and Irish authorities of the day - and report back within three months ahead of any decision being taken about a public inquiry.

Ahern said: "It is some 30 years since the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of May 17, 1974, but that has not diminished the need for answers and clarity about what happened on what was one of the blackest days in our recent history. Not only were innocent lives lost on that terrible day but for many the legacy of pain and suffering remains. Victims and families were left devastated. Many people never recovered. Some still suffer pain to this day."

 Sinn Féin's CaoimhghÌn O Caolain said the Barron report was an indictment of successive Irish and British governments.

He claimed: "The publication of the report is firstly a tribute to the dedication of the survivors and the bereaved of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. But for their persistence there would never have been such an investigation and the victims would indeed have been largely forgotten by Irish society. For almost 30 years the victims and their families have been seeking truth and justice. Our sympathy and solidarity is with them on this day as they relive the terrible events of May 17th 1974. Labour's Mr Joe Costello said the principal conclusion to be drawn was that the victims and survivors of the bombings were very badly let down by the institutions of the state."

 He added: "What is very clear is that the Garda investigation into what was the greatest mass murder in the history of the state was totally inadequate and that there did not appear to have been any real determination on the part of the authorities to see those responsible brought to justice."

"Even allowing for the very difficult conditions in which the Gardai were operating at the time, the account of the investigation is a sorry chapter of shortcomings and failure. The conclusion of the report that it is likely that there was collusion between those responsible for the bombing and members of the RUC and UDR is truly shocking, if not altogether surprising in view of the evidence suggesting this produced by the media over the years."

A group representing the families of the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings said this evening the evidence contained in the Barron report indicated that collusion between individuals in the North's security forces and loyalist paramiliaries was likely to have occured.

According to Justice for the Forgotten(JFF), by the criteria outlined earlier this year in the Stevens report into the murder of the solicitor Pat Finucane, there was no doubt that collusion had occoured.

However, the group was careful to distinguish between "systematic collusion" where there was clear evidence of security force involvement, and collusion as defined in the Stevens report, that involved the "the wilful failure to keep records, the absense of accountability, the withholding of intelligence and evidence and the extreme of agents being involved in murder."

It is clear from the report by Justice Henry Barron which was published this afternoon that collusion as defined in the Stevens report had taken place, the group said.

JFF's most trenchant criticism arose from the findings in the report which indicated that the Garda Siochana had dragged their heels in investigating the bombings.

"The families, the dead, the wounded, the survivors, the children of the dead were grievously let down by the government of the day and by the police force in this country," said Greg O' Neill, solicitor for the families.

"The absence of files from the Department of Justice is damning in the extreme and no sufficient explanation has been proffered. We are left with no choice but to draw the most negative inferences from the absence of these files."

" . . .The combination of incompetence and downright carelessness on the part of those charged with the protection of the citizens of Ireland is absolutely damanable."

The organization is now calling for the Irish Government to instigate a public inquiry into the bombings and in particular to address questions that Justice Barron's report posed.

While the report did not in itself answer any questions, O' Neill added, the families now had a starting point to work from and it was now up to the Government to provide a public inquiry to resolve outstanding issues.

The Oireachtas Committee on Justice will have public hearings starting in late January on the report.

It will call witnesses who spoke to Mr Justice Barron, but Mr Sean Ardagh, chair of the committee said yesterday he was not expecting to unearth new evidence.

Justice for the Forgotten was formed in January 1996 with the aim of campaigning for a public inquiry into bombings in Dublin and Monaghan. Its membership includes the majority of the bereaved families and many wounded survivors.

Some family members of people who died in the Dublin bombings walked out of the press conference at which the Barron report was first presented to the families and the media this evening.

Des Doherty, solicitor for the family of Edward O'Neill and John O'Brien, said there was nothing new in the report that the families had not previously known. "It's obscene," he said. "The report has been a complete and utter waste of time and expense and my clients are severely disappointed."

Dec. 11, 2003

Cowen Recognizes Trauma of 
1974 Bombings

Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs said today he recognised the "trauma and pain" suffered by the families of those killed and injured in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

However, Cowen refused to be comment directly on the lack of co-operation shown by British authorities in compiling the Barron report.

 In his report published yesterday evening, Justice Barron criticised the lack of co-operation by the British government, which refused to make original documents available to the inquiry.

Following a trawl of 68,000 files, the-then Northern Ireland secretary of state Dr John Reid provided a 16-page document to the inquiry in February 2002, nearly 18 months after information was sought.

But speaking at a press conference today, Mr Cowen said he could "make no judgement beyond the conclusions of the report".

"The report has been referred to the Dail Committee and we await their recommendations. There is a process here and that has to be respected. Obviously the pain and trauma of the families has to be taken into account. One recognises the pain and trauma of the families."

Asked if members of the 1974 Government should be obliged to make submissions to the committee, Cowen said that was a matter for the committee itself.

The then Fine Gael/Labour coalition led by Liam Cosgrave came in for stinging criticism from Justice Barron. "It can be said that the Government of the day showed little interest in the bombings," he said in the report.

The report said there was no proven evidence of collusion between "senior members" of the security forces in the North and the perpetrators of the bombings.

But the report indicated there was evidence of involvement of individual RUC, UDR or British army members and criticised the lack of co-operation by the British government, which refused to make original documents available to the inquiry.

The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, and the Government Chief Whip, Hanafin, will discuss the possibility of debating the Barron report in the D·il before the Christmas recess.

Last night, the Taoiseach, Ahern, said the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights - which will today begins discussing the report - is to report to the Dail within three months.