Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974 were the single most bloody event of the Troubles. Thirty-four people were killed, 27 in Dublin and seven in Monaghan, and 300 people were injured. Car bombs in Dublin were placed strategically near to train stations during rush hour in the middle of a bus strike. Many of the victims were young women workers. The Monaghan bomb was very probably deliberately timed to distract security and facilitate the safe passage of the bombing team back across the Border.

I express my solidarity and the solidarity of the Socialist Party with the families of those who died and with the survivors. I also salute the Justice for the Forgotten campaign in keeping this issue alive because 50 years on, there are still very many unanswered questions here. Why has no one ever been charged with the bombings? The UVF admitted responsibility in the early 1990s but did higher-ups in the UDR and RUC turn a blind eye to the attack and cover up after it? Why does the British state continue to this day to refuse to publish key documents related to the case? The Barron report, an Irish Government inquiry, found that British security force personnel, or MI5 intelligence, was likely involved. Would the publication of documents prove this to be the case? I believe that very clearly they would and that there was involvement there.

The Barron report criticised the Garda investigation and said the investigators stopped their work prematurely. Why was this the case? Why have all of the files not been handed over? Why did the Irish political establishment not want to know about this case for so many years?

The Dublin and Monaghan killings are a justice issue and a working-class issue. It is an issue that needs to be taken up by the working-class movement. The working-class movement has nothing to hide when it comes to investigating the legacy of the Troubles. Sectarian forces on both sides will want to see investigation of the atrocities that were carried out by the opposite sectarian side. The British state will try to whitewash its role, as shown by the Tories' legacy Act and the refusal to release documents relating to this case.

The working-class movement has clean hands and has an interest in seeing justice for all working-class people who lost loved ones during the Troubles. No to cover ups. Justice for the forgotten.

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