February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Allegations that British security forces colluded with the UVF in the May 17 no-warning bombings has been under investigation by a former Supreme Court judge, Justice Henry Barron, for three years.
No one has ever been charged with the atrocities that killed 33 people — including a Frenchwoman and an Italian man — and injured hundreds more.
After the judge’s report has been considered by the government, it will be referred to the Oireachtas Justice Committee who will publish it and hold hearings on the findings.
Bernie McNally, chairwoman of the relatives’ group Justice for the Forgotten, said it would still be seeking a full public inquiry.
Despite assurances from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the group does not believe British authorities adequately cooperated with Barron’s probe.
“I think the judge got some help but then resigned himself to not getting anything of any substance from the British,” McNally said. “I think he may have something to say on that.
“The only answer is a public inquiry. We are still looking for that no matter what the outcome of Judge Barron’s report is.
“The investigation of the bombings at the time was minimal. We want to know how mass murder can be committed and there is no proper investigation.”
McNally worked in a shoe shop on Talbot Street and lost the sight in one eye as a result of the bombing there.
The taoiseach has described the bombings as an “appalling atrocity, which left a terrible legacy of pain and suffering for the victims and their families.”
In Dublin, three bombs ripped through streets crowded during the Friday evening rush hour on Parnell Street, Talbot Street and South Leinster Street, killing 26. A fourth bomb, that went off 90 minutes later outside a pub in Monaghan, killed seven.
The bombings coincided with the loyalist Ulster Workers’ Council strike against the Sunningdale power-sharing government in Belfast. The executive collapsed 11 days later.
Other bombings
The judge has also been investigating two other Dublin bombings and will report on them later this year.
While the Dail was debating tougher Offences Against the State laws on Dec. 1, 1972, two car bombs exploded at Liberty Hall and Sackville Place off O’Connell Street and killed a bus driver and conductor.
On Jan. 20, 1973, when Ireland’s rugby team was playing New Zealand at Lansdowne Road, a car bomb in Sackville Place killed a 21-year-old Scotsman working in Dublin as a bus conductor.
The judge’s probe into the cases of the Dundalk bombing and Seamus Ludlow murder will be published next year.
Ludlow, 47, a County Louth forestry worker, vanished on the night of May 1, 1976. His family believes he was abducted outside Dundalk by a loyalist Red Hand Commando death squad and Ulster Defense Regiment soldiers and then murdered.
A Red Hand Commando unit is also blamed for the Dec. 19, 1975 car bomb outside a Dundalk pub that killed two and injured 20.