February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will take “preliminary” legal advice from Irish Attorney General Rory Brady on pursuing Tony Blair’s government through the court in order to access British information on the attacks.
The bombings, which killed 34 people, were the single biggest atrocity in the troubles. Loyalist bomb-teams planted several devices in Dublin city center and Monaghan town in May, 1974.
A report written by Justice Henry Barron in 2003 found that it was “likely” that the UVF — which claimed responsibility for the bombs — was assisted by members of the British security forces in the North.
Ahern warned Blair last week that if he failed to produce long sought intelligence documents at a meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference Monday he would have no option to take his government to Europe.
“I would prefer if we could solve this matter by the British side providing the information and giving us the assistance we want,” Ahern told the D_il.
“I asked him (Blair) if he can have this matter looked at between then and the meeting on Monday. I don’t want to be getting into a European scene if we can avoid it. It would be far easier if the British system were to co-operate on this, if not we will have to go the other route,” he said.
Government sources warned prior to the meeting that a continued refusal by the British to cooperate with on-going Irish inquiries would end up in the courts.
A joint Oireachtas committee, which studied the findings of Barron’s report, recommended that if the British government did not cooperate with further inquiries, then the government should take action against it in Europe.
The Justice for the Forgotten group, which represents relatives of those killed in the bombings, has already filed complaints with the court in Strasbourg.
Ahern has put off taking immediate action after Blair indicated at the Monday meeting that his government would make attempts to re-examine documents.
However, relatives of those killed in the bombings have expressed disappointment with the outcome of the meeting in Downing Street and it is widely feared that the British government will continue to stall.
The meeting between the two governments also resulted in a joint communiqu