Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government stands in solidarity with all those impacted by the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Some 33 people were murdered and hundreds seriously injured on that awful day in 1974, which was the highest number of casualties in any single day during the Troubles. We will continue to seek the full truth of these appalling attacks, as well as some measure of closure for the victims' families and survivors, in accordance with the three motions passed unanimously by Dáil Éireann to date.

The all-party motion on the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings that was adopted by the Dáil on 25 May 2016, like those adopted in 2008 and 2011, calls on the British Government to allow access by an independent, international judicial figure to all original documents relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. The motions also ask the British Government to provide access to original documents relating to the Dublin bombings of 1972 and 1973, the bombing of Kay’s Tavern in Dundalk, and the murder of Seamus Ludlow.

The Government is committed to actively pursuing the implementation of these all-party Dáil motions. We have consistently raised the issue with the British Government, including at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. We have also raised the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and the need for access to all original documents during regular engagements with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the British Prime Minister. The Government will continue to engage with the British Government on this request, at senior political level and in official level engagement by my Department, to pursue all possible avenues to achieve progress on this issue until a resolution is found.

Importantly, the Government has also welcomed the announcement by the PSNI on 30 November 2019 that former Bedfordshire chief constable, Jon Boutcher, is heading an independent police team to conduct an analytical report on collusion in what has become known as the Glenanne gang series of cases. This is relevant to several cases including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. The former chief constable has been in regular contact with the Garda Commissioner regarding his investigation, as well as with the Dublin-Monaghan families. This is a potentially significant development and one which I know the families have strongly welcomed.The Government will be supportive of facilitating this investigation subject to the requirements of the law as there are other investigative processes in Northern Ireland. The families, like so many across this island who have suffered great loss during the Troubles, have been waiting far too long. It is appropriate to recall the powerful findings of the inquest last week into the deaths of ten people in Ballymurphy in 1971. It shows that truth can still be brought to light, even decades later. Some injustices can be corrected for the world to see. We look forward to the day when the families of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and other terrible days, will see days like last Tuesday in the Coroner's Court in Belfast.