Bomb probe campaigners step up pressure on Britain
Bereaved families and survivors of the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings are meeting today to co-ordinate a campaign to press the British government to hand over documents to a Commission investigating the atrocities.
Members of Justice for the Forgotten are to discuss a strategy to compel Britain to submit official documents about the attacks, in which 33 people were killed.
British authorities have not handed over any documentation despite a request nine months ago by the independent commission in Dublin.
This has angered the campaigners, who are demanding answers after years of allegations that Britain colluded with Loyalist paramilitaries to plant the bombs.
Three car bombs exploded in Dublin city centre on May 17, 1974, killing 26 people.
Just 90 minutes later seven more people died in an explosion in the town of Monaghan.
At the meeting, entitled British Co-operation: A Human Rights Imperative, Jane Winter of the British Irish Rights Watch was speaking alongside Garrett Mussen, the youngest known survivor of the attacks.
The families and survivors regard the case as the biggest unsolved murder in the history of the State.
The attacks caused the single biggest loss of life in one day in the history of the Troubles.
Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid is due to meet Mr Justice Henry Barron, the judge heading the Commission, to discuss the matter. But the Northern Ireland office said no date had yet been set.
Britain has said a ‘‘single co-ordinated response’’ will deliver the documents when the lengthy process of retrieving them is completed.
The campaigners said that response was inadequate and last week announced a new campaign to lobby MPs and members of the Dail.
A Justice for the Forgotten spokesman said: ‘‘The bereaved families and survivors feel that this response is totally inadequate in light of Tony Blair’s expressed commitment to the global fight against terrorism since the September 11 attacks.’’
The public meeting was being held at 7.30pm at the Ussher Theatre in Trinity College, Dublin.
