Last chance for Blair to aid bombing inquiry
01/06/2005 - 16:21:28The Government will give British Prime Minister Tony Blair a final chance to aid an inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings or else take the matter to European courts.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said he may take a case to the European Court of Human Rights if Mr Blair does not hand over British government files on the 1974 atrocities.
Mr Ahern told the Dáil today that he wrote to Mr Blair before the UK general election and advised him of his position on the matter.
He said he was due to meet him this month.
“It’s a new government and I suppose we should give it one more effort,” Mr Ahern told TDs in Dublin.
“If we do not go anywhere, we should look at the European Court of Human Rights.”
A total of 34 people died when no-warning bombs exploded in Dublin and Monaghan in May 1974.
An Oireachtas parliamentary committee recommended in February that the Irish Government should help victims’ families to seek justice at the European Court of Human Rights.
The Justice for the Forgotten group which represents victims’ families today welcomed Mr Ahern’s pledge.
Solicitor for the group Greg O’Neill said the families had already filed complaints with the Strasbourg-based court.
“We welcome Mr Ahern’s comments but, if we don’t act quickly, the delay could prejudice our cases.”
Mr O’Neill also called for financial support from the Irish Government to help the families fight their cases.
Mr Ahern also said earlier: “I shouldn’t be pessimistic about it but… I will try once more.”
He explained that he and successive Northern Ireland Secretaries and Irish Foreign Affairs Ministers had failed to get any answers from the British authorities.
Sinn Féin’s Dáil leader Caoimhghin O Caolain warned that further delays could hamper success in any court action.
Mr Ahern added: “I will resume the campaign with the new Secretary of State Peter Hain – the fifth, on the same issues again – and with the Prime Minister Blair and I hope to do that sometime this month.”
Labour party leader Pat Rabbitte said that victims’ families deserved answers on the issue after ore than 30 years of waiting.
It has been alleged that the bombings were carried out by loyalist paramilitaries with British government intelligence.
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