Wreaths laid at site of Dublin-Monaghan bombings, 40 years on
Wreaths have been laid at the site of one of three bombs which exploded 40 years ago today in the single worst day of atrocities in the Troubles.
Relatives of the dead and survivors of the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings gathered at a special memorial on Talbot Street in the Irish capital.
Among them were Tomassino Magliocco, who now lives in Italy and whose father Antonio died in a bomb on Parnell Street, and Iris Hall, whose father Archie Harper was killed in Monaghan.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny laid a wreath, along with the members of the Justice for the Forgotten group which announced on Wednesday it is suing the British Government to get access to classified files they believe will confirm collusion in the bombings.
33 people were killed, including a pregnant woman, and almost 300 people injured in no-warning bombs, three in Dublin and one in Monaghan in the space of 90 minutes.
The Ulster Volunteer Force was blamed.
34 victims of Dublin and Monaghan bombings 1974 remembered today. pic.twitter.com/LnZREIxFne
— MerrionStreet.ie (@merrionstreet) May 17, 2014
A spokeswoman for Justice for the Forgotten said she hoped action would follow.
“The Tanaiste issued a strongly worded statement and restored funding for which we are very grateful,” she said.
“For a long time we have been asking that the Taoiseach issue a statement, he has called in the parliament on the British to act but I think it’s much more significant when they make a statement, and a public statement is significant.
“We hope it will be followed up by action by the British.”
Author and historian Tim Pat Coogan delivered an oration before a memorial mass was celebrated at the pro-Cathedral in nearby Marlborough Street by Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin.
