Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to confirm that the Government will support this motion.

There are moments in time when we are confronted with the sharpest of contrasts in human nature - the contrast between decency and depravity, between good and evil, between love and hate. On 17 May 1974, this country faced such a moment. On a Friday evening, bright with the promise of early summer, decent people, including parents, children and pensioners, were going about the ordinary business of work, of care, of living. The familiar and easy rhythm of Dublin and Monaghan settling into a weekend was brutally interrupted by the horror of mass murder. The decency of the everyday was transformed by bombings into a catalogue of carnage with the highest number of casualties in a single incident during the Troubles, a period of murder, mayhem, and terrible and unjustifiable violence. On that day 34 lives were lost and 300 people were injured.

It is right that the House recall the devastation of that evening as we prepare to mark the 50th anniversary on Friday. Each death, each injury, scarred the lives of so many families and individuals. These were people with hopes and dreams, who were part of the social fabric of their communities, and whose loss has been felt acutely ever since. They were people who mattered and who still matter.

For half a century, the Dublin and Monaghan families have been tireless in campaigning in memory of their loved ones, demanding justice, accountability and truth. I acknowledge that we are joined today in the Visitors Gallery by representatives of Justice for the Forgotten, which has worked for decades with those families that suffered loss in the bombings. Others impacted are following these proceedings online.

I extend deepest sympathies on behalf of the Government to all those who suffered as a result of those tragic events. Foremost in our minds today are the victims and the duty that we as public representatives have to them. It is important that we demonstrate to the survivors and to the loved ones of those killed, that in this House we stand united in our support of them as they continue to seek answers.

On three prior occasions all parties in this House have come together to express that united support. In 2008, 2011 and 2016, Dáil Éireann with one voice urged the British Government to allow access by an independent, international judicial figure to all original documents relating to these atrocities. Today we have the opportunity to repeat that call with one voice. This is a demand I have personally made to the British Government in various roles throughout my career in public service, and which I continue to make now in my role as Tánaiste and Minister of Foreign Affairs. In fact, I raised the Dublin-Monaghan bombings with the current Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, just weeks after I took up my current role, at the January 2023 meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. I followed up in writing and at subsequent meetings of the conference in June 2023, November 2023 and April 2024 as well as in our private meetings.

This British Government can have no doubt of the strength of feelings in this House and, more importantly, the salience of the issue for so many families. That half a century on from the atrocities of 17 May 1974, 21 years after the Barron inquiry and 17 years after the final McEntee report we are still asking for co-operation is a matter of profound regret and disappointment. I know from my own engagement with many of those affected that the loss and pain suffered on 17 May 1974 has been compounded by the frustration and hurt of unanswered questions.

The Barron inquiry, whose reports were subsequently considered by the Government and the Oireachtas, and the commission of investigation led by Patrick McEntee SC did important work that should be acknowledged. The Barron report drew well-founded conclusions on a number of key elements, not least that the attacks were carried out by two loyalist paramilitary groups, most of whom were members of the UVF. It also asserted the likelihood that members of the UDR and RUC either participated in or were aware of preparations for the attacks and the likelihood that the farm of James Mitchell at Glenanne played a significant part in the preparation for the attacks.

In both cases, the reports produced were clear that they were hampered in providing a fuller picture, including on long-standing questions on whether a role was played by British security forces before or after the attacks, by the lack of access to original documents held by the British Government. The motion passed today will be sent to the British Parliament. I hope that lawmakers there take to heart the message that the demand for access to these documents by an independent figure is not going away. Our shared determination to pursue this issue, as a government and as an Oireachtas, is undiminished. With the Barron and McEntee reports, we challenged ourselves. I would ask that others do likewise.

As I said, I have been frank in my discussions with British counterparts on their shortcomings in this case. It is important that we, too, are honest about where we as a government and a society have fallen short on what we owe the victims and survivors of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings.

The Barron Report made serious criticisms of the original Garda investigation into the bombings, including the failure to make full use of information obtained and weaknesses in forensic analysis. It remains the case that 50 years on from these terrible attacks, there has not been a single conviction. I know that this is a source of terrible hurt for the families. For many years following the bombings, theirs were lonely voices demanding answers and, frankly, they did not get the support or answers they deserved from the Government of the day, nor indeed from Dáil Éireann. The high level of engagement across our political system on this case today is in stark contrast to the muted response of the first two decades following the bombings. Not a single parliamentary question specific to the case was asked, from any quarter, from 1975 until 1991. I find this truly shocking. Still, the families did not allow their case to fade from view. In 1996, Justice for the Forgotten was formed and it has been campaigning with passion and determination ever since. I have met with it on a number of occasions and my Department continues to fund its important work through the reconciliation fund. That work continues.

I know the Dublin-Monaghan families have been watching closely the work of Operation Denton, an independent police analytical review into the activities of the so-called Glennane gang, as well as a Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland investigation of the same topic. We know how important such investigations are to families. I recently met with the new head of Operation Denton, Sir Iain Livingstone, and underlined the importance we attach to his work. When Operation Denton investigators sought assistance from An Garda Síochána, the Minister for Justice took steps to put in place a bespoke mechanism to allow relevant information to be shared. Survivors and the families of victims have also taken their own civil case in Belfast, which it was decided last month, will proceed to trial. I will not comment on the details of a case that remains sub judice, but Deputies across this House will appreciate how meaningful a development this is. It is particularly meaningful as, tragically for many other families bereaved during the Troubles, the entry into force of the UK’s legacy Act at the start of this month ended their ability to progress their cases through the civil courts, coronial inquests and police ombudsman investigations.

I have explained before to Deputies the fundamental concerns that prompted me to recommend to Government that we take a case at the European Court of Human Rights in respect of this Act, not least in relation to its compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. I will not repeat those arguments today, which are best left to the court, but it is important to state explicitly that this Government’s policy on legacy issues is a part of and, in fact, central to our efforts to further reconciliation on this island. Without an effective, human-rights compliant framework for dealing with the legacy of the past that commands the confidence of victims and survivors, how can we ask individuals or society to move on? How can we expect to achieve genuine reconciliation? We can do better. The best way forward is one where both Britain and Ireland work together in an agreed way to deal with the complexities and hurt which the violence of the Troubles inflicted on so many - too many. While for some families it is too late, an agreed, comprehensive approach that commands public confidence is the best way to consolidate reconciliation.

In the run-up to this important anniversary, we have heard a lot from those who survived and those who lost loved ones. RTÉ and others have rightly given them a space to tell their stories. These first-hand accounts bring home the scale of the loss for families and for our society. Fifty years ago this Friday, when Clery’s clock struck 5 p.m., Dublin was caught up in the normal Friday evening rush. By the time the clock had struck six, this city had changed, our country had changed and hundreds of lives had changed. Fifty years on from the darkest day in their lives, the Dublin and Monaghan families continue their campaign. There is no expiry date in their desire for truth and justice. Today, we come together across this House to say, once again, you are not alone in this campaign. Today, we mourn with you the great loss suffered by the victims of the bombs of 17 May 1974. We offer our humble acknowledgement of the obstacles you have overcome and the mountain you have climbed to get your campaign to where it is today. We recognise our own past shortcomings as a State and political system. We call on the British Government to look afresh at this request, which has been agreed by this House three times already and this House again makes that call today. We recommit ourselves, in the most solemn terms, to pressing the British Government to respond positively to the demand for answers that the families have sought for so long. The Government hopes that all Deputies will support this motion.

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