Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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293. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has had any response from the British Government in respect of the unanimous requests of Dáil Éireann for an independent international legal person to have access to the files and papers relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19216/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to actively pursuing the implementation of these All-Party Dáil motions, and has consistently raised the issue with the British Government. At the most recent British-Irish Inter-Governmental Conference in Farmleigh on 23 March 2022, I raised the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, as well as other individual legacy cases.

We have made clear to our counterparts that the absence of a response from the British Government is of deep concern to the Government, and that there remains an urgent need for a response. 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.

The All-Party motion on the 1974 Dublin Monaghan bombings that was adopted by Dáil Éireann 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, as well as the Dublin bombings of 1972 and 1973, the bombing of Kay’s Tavern in Dundalk and the murder of Seamus Ludlow. The Programme for Government reiterates Ireland’s commitment to engaging with the British Government on this issue as matter of priority, in accordance with the All-Party Dáil motions.