Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the cosigning of this motion by An Taoiseach and the other party leaders. I welcome those relatives of the victims of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings who have joined us in the Visitors Gallery this evening. I welcome also the representatives of Justice for the Forgotten who have accompanied them. I congratulate them sincerely on their dignified campaigning and tenacity.

The purpose of this motion is to reaffirm and reiterate the call made unanimously by the Dáil on 10 July 2008. That resolution, set out again in our motion, urged the British Government to open all relevant files on the atrocities inquired into by Mr. Justice Henry Barron. It should not have been necessary to put this motion before the Dáil. The motion and debate reflected the frustration of the survivors and bereaved of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 and of the other atrocities inquired into. They have waited for almost three years for the British Government to act on that motion. They have also waited for the former Taoiseach to press his British counterpart to act but, on both counts, they have been deeply disappointed.

The motion also reflects the patience and endurance of the survivors and the bereaved. The unanimous call of the Dáil on 10 July 2008 was not a one-off event but the latest step in a long process in which the Oireachtas engaged with the affected families, initiated investigations, established committees, held public hearings and published reports. Through all of this, the Oireachtas received no real co-operation from the British authorities. The reports expressed frustration over this lack of co-operation. It was a logical step, then, for the Dáil to adopt the motion of 10 July 2008 calling on the British Government to act.

I regret that successive taoisigh, in answer to questions from me and others, have attempted to present this issue as a matter for the Clerk of the House and his counterpart, the Clerk of the House of Commons, or for the Whips in this House. The motion of July 2008 stated clearly it called on the British Government to release all the relevant files to an independent international figure, as quoted clearly in the motion before the House.

It would be difficult to count the number of times I have questioned former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on this matter. Time and again, I urged him to press the case for openness, truth and justice with the British Government. Although not often enough, nor vigorously enough, he did raise the matter with Mr. Tony Blair. The motion of 10 July 2008 gave a strengthened mandate to the Irish Government to pursue this matter but I regret it failed to take it up. Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen showed no embarrassment whatsoever when he admitted he had not raised the issue with the then British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, a failure he repeatedly confirmed in this Chamber. The responses of the current Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, have been less than satisfactory also. While I accept he has not been long in office, none the less this should be a priority in any meeting on Irish-British relations between the Taoiseach and British Prime Minister until the request of the Dáil motion of 2008 is complied with.

It is especially frustrating that successive taoisigh have failed in this regard in the context of the current visit of the Queen of England. Scheduling the first day of that visit on the very anniversary of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings showed gross insensitivity. Clearly, this major outstanding issue, this legacy of the conflict, was far from the minds of those who initiated, planned and organised this visit. I salute the forbearance of the relatives who turned the insult into an opportunity. They have asked that the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, take this opportunity to agree to release the files. He should do so without further delay.

There are some who argue that all this should be forgotten or set aside. It was forgotten by most except those immediately affected by it. It was set aside. That was why the group representing the survivors and the bereaved was called Justice for the Forgotten. This tragedy was for years the tragedy that was deliberately forgotten by official Ireland. The Garda investigation was closed down within a matter of months. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the then Fine Gael-Labour Government attempted to place responsibility for the bombings on the shoulders of Irish republicans. In fact, it effectively parroted the argument of the unionist paramilitaries that it was provocation from republicans that led to the bombings. The rationale for the massacre was obvious, however. It was designed to ensure that the Irish Government was put in its place and that the public in this State would be terrified. The spectre of the backlash was created in order to suppress any expression of solidarity with the plight of nationalists in the North, any expression of the legitimate republican demand for an end to partition and British military withdrawal.

Within the British state system, there were clearly forces, closely allied to unionism and loyalist paramilitaries, who had a common interest in toppling the Stormont Executive. If this also destabilised the Labour Government of Harold Wilson, it was well and good as far as many of them were concerned.

There are those who will accuse us of raking over old issues and opening old wounds, but these are unresolved issues of truth and justice. No mistake should be made about that; wounds are still open. It is quite galling that many of those who make such statements did little themselves to aid the search for justice or, worse, actually impeded that search.

Similarly, we are being implored, in the context of the current state visit, to set aside these matters, to move on and even grow up as a nation. These are patronising and insulting attitudes. They might have some shred of credibility if those who uttered them had any kind of track record in challenging the British state on its role in Ireland. However, their record is mostly blank. Many of them would have welcomed the current state visit even at the height of the conflict.

We make no apology for returning to this issue of justice. We do so conscious of the fact that there are victims on all sides of the conflict and many unresolved issues. We have called for an international truth process and we have said that Irish republicans would be prepared to play their part in such a process. However, there is no such process in place. It is only right that those who seek the full facts on events such as the Dublin and Monaghan bombings should be accorded their right to truth by the British Government.

I recall 17 May 1974 very well, when tragedy visited this city and my home town of Monaghan. Seven citizens of Monaghan lost their lives. That left a deep scar on the town and a memory that is still vivid to this day. More than three times that number were killed in Dublin where 26 people lost their lives - ten in Parnell Street, 14 in Talbot Street, two in South Leinster Street and an unborn child.

Our focus is not only on 17 May 1974. The investigative process initiated by the Oireachtas which led to the publication of the Barron reports had a wider remit in terms of other incidents. As well as his inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974, cases Mr. Justice Barron examined to a greater or lesser degree included the bombing of Belturbet in County Cavan in December 1972 in which two teenage civilians were killed, the Dublin bombings of December 1972 and January 1973 in which three bus workers were killed, the killing of IRA volunteer John Francis Green in County Monaghan in January 1975, the Kay's Tavern Dundalk bombing of December 1975 in which two civilians were killed, the Castleblayney bombing of March 1976 in which Patrick Moen was killed and the killing of civilian Séamus Ludlow in County Louth in May 1976.

In a process arising from the Barron reports, senior counsel Patrick MacEntee carried out a probe of the Garda investigations of the 1974 bombings. While the process from the beginning fell far short of the public inquiry demanded by justice campaigners, it threw a spotlight on these events. It is clear from all the reports that there was collusion between agents of the British state and those who carried out the bombings. All the evidence and experience of that time and of later years point to extensive use of Unionist paramilitaries as a key component of British counter-insurgency strategy in Ireland. Hard evidence for that lies somewhere in the archives of the British state. It must be brought to light.

In other circumstances the British Government has been quick to point out the need for truth and justice and support for the victims of violence and conflict. It was reported last week that a group proposed to travel from the North of Ireland to Libya, reportedly to represent relatives of people killed by the IRA. They were advised by the British Foreign Office to speak to the Libyan Transitional Council in London. The BelfastNewsletter last Friday, 13 May, reported the following comment from the British Foreign Office: "It is clear that if the Libyan people choose a new future for themselves and their country there might be huge opportunities to find out about the support for terrorism that did so much damage to the UK. The [British] government attaches huge importance to acknowledging the suffering of victims and to their legitimate attempts to seek redress."

Does the British Government recognise the suffering of the victims of collusion in this State? Does it acknowledge the legitimate attempts of the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and other fatal, cross-Border acts of collusion, to seek redress? Is the British Government consistent in its position? If it is, let Mr. David Cameron act accordingly. I call on the British Prime Minister to do so tomorrow when he is in Ireland by making a commitment to the Irish people to release the files. If he fails to do so, he must be continually pressed on the matter by the Taoiseach and by all those who have an opportunity to do so, be they representative of the Government or of the Opposition voices in this House as mandated not only on 10 July 2008 but also by this all-party motion that will be passed tomorrow evening. The unanswered questions remain. Now is surely the time for answers.

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