Kin of ’74 victims slam plan

Ahern said that he believed that an Irish inquiry into the bombings would not uncover the truth about who was behind the attacks. Many observers believe that the British army and the RUC colluded with loyalist bomb squads in planning and planting the devices that killed 34 people on May 17, 1974.
“A public inquiry called in this jurisdiction that can compel no information from the British government or from the NIO or any of the people likely people to have information — what would you be investigating?” Ahern said. “It would be like talking to a group of ourselves — so that’s not good enough.”
He added: “I find it hard to believe that there is no information. I believe Tony Blair when he says that they can’t find it, but whether that information is in the British security systems or wherever, this is the dilemma that we have had for the last four to five years.”
The Justice for the Forgotten group, which represents the majority of the families affected by the atrocity, launched a stinging attack on Ahern’s government Monday — the 30th anniversary of the attacks — saying its compensation scheme for the families of victims was inadequate. Siblings of those killed or injured in the attacks are not entitled to government compensation
Group chairwoman Bernice McNally also called for a full public inquiry into the bombings, for which no one has ever been charged. She called on Ahern to press the British government to establish an inquiry in the North.
“It must happen this year,” she said. “It must happen in this the year of the 30th anniversary.”
The calls for an inquiry came as hundreds of people gathered on Dublin’s Talbot Street, the scene of one of the four car-bomb explosions in Dublin and Monaghan. The gathering was followed by a memorial Mass at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral.
Meanwhile, retired High Court Judge Henry Barron, who reported on the bombings last December, has conceded that his report contained several serious factual errors. Barron has written to two witnesses who provided his investigation with information regarding the bombings, informing them that he intends to amend his report.
Both former Irish army intelligence officer Lt. Col. John Morgan and journalist Paul Larkin claimed that Barron had misattributed evidence to them in his report. They also claimed that Barron had failed to double-check evidence with them prior to publication. This is despite a contention in the report that all witnesses were approached for confirmation before the report was made public.
Barron said he would amend their evidence in a report due for publication next month. The report will deal with other bombings in the Republic of Ireland in the early 1970s and the killing of County Louth man Seamus Ludlow in 1976.