Ms Bernadette Joly:

Myself and Mr. O'Connor of the Pat Finucane Centre are splitting the presentation between us. Justice for the Forgotten, JFF, merged with the Pat Finucane Centre, PFC, in 2010 and this presentation will cover all aspects of our work north and south of the Border. Apologies from Margaret Urwin who is on leave. A brief outline will be provided on the scope and nature of the work of JFF and PFC, how many families benefit from it, the advocacy provided and the key issues for moving ahead. My name is Bernadette Joly and I was injured in the Talbot Street bombing in May 1974. After the merging of the PFC and JFF, I was invited, along with Pat Fay, to join the board of the Pat Finucane Centre to represent the interests of bereaved and injured families from the Republic.

I will first discuss the failure of the British Government to comply with Dáil motions. The British Government has continued, over many years, to refuse to disclose the relevant files relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and other cross-Border bombings of the 1970s.

They have continued to ignore two all-party resolutions passed by Dáil Éireann in 2008 and 2011 urging the British authorities to make the undisclosed documents available to an independent judicial figure. Justice for the Forgotten put a proposal to the British ambassador and officials of the Northern Ireland Office in 2013 as to how the issue might be resolved. We were due to continue discussions with the ambassador but a meeting arranged for November 2013 was cancelled at very short notice by the British side and no further meeting was offered despite efforts on our part.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings last year, the President, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste reiterated the call to the British Government to make the files available. However, the British Embassy's response was absolute silence. The most recent information we received via the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, several months ago was to the effect that the Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, was considering how to resolve the issue. We appeal to members of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement to urge the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to bring pressure to bear on the British Government to comply with the Dáil resolutions.

I also wish to place on public record our appreciation to U2, who have focused much-needed attention on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings during their ongoing world tour by displaying photographs of the victims as a backdrop while they perform their song about the tragedy, "Raised by Wolves". The concert programme supports the call for full disclosure of the documents.

I move now to the historical investigations unit, HIU, and its implications for victims in the Republic of Ireland. Under the Stormont House Agreement, it is proposed that a historical investigations unit, which is to be totally independent of the PSNI, be established. While we would welcome the establishment of such a unit, Justice for the Forgotten is very concerned that the circumstances of the deaths of those were killed as a result of the conflict outside the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland will be excluded from this process and will not be investigated.

Under the Stormont House Agreement, the HIU will be obliged to accept all outstanding cases from the Police Ombudsman for investigation. Of the families we represent, these will include a number of cases where the victims were killed in the Republic. I refer here to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Dundalk bombing, the Castleblayney bombing and two single-incident cases. In these cases, the Police Ombudsman’s remit is limited to investigating the role of the RUC. How will the HIU deal with these cases where the deaths occurred in another jurisdiction? Will the HIU fully investigate them or will its examination be confined to actions that occurred in Northern Ireland? We believe it will be necessary for the Irish Government to establish a specific Garda unit to liaise and co-operate with the HIU in these and other cases by providing information regarding actions that occurred in the Republic and evidence relating to the bomb sites. Justice for the Forgotten also represents families of victims where either a complaint has not been accepted by the Police Ombudsman or one has not been made due to lack of information. These cases include the Dublin bombings of December 1972 and January 1973, the Belturbet bombing and one single-incident murder. Like the other cases I mentioned, the perpetrators in all these instances came from Northern Ireland, the weapons, explosives and cars used were procured and transported from Northern Ireland and the perpetrators escaped back to Northern Ireland after each attack. Nobody has ever been charged, much less convicted, of any of these attacks.