Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

143. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the outcome of the most recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the UK Foreign Secretary in relation to the need to have comprehensive investigations into the Dundalk, Dublin and Monaghan bombings of May 1974, as the 50th anniversary of the bombings approaches; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36773/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In February this year, during my first meeting as Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, I raised the Dublin Monaghan bombings. This issue was also discussed at the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference in April, where the ongoing concern, including in this House, about the lack of adequate exchange of information about these attacks was raised.

The Dublin Monaghan and Dundalk Silverbridge bombings, all linked to the Glennane Gang, are currently the subject of Operation Denton, an independent police review into a series of serious crimes linked to that terrorist group. I expect the report of Operation Denton in the coming months and I hope it will shed further light on these attacks and deliver information to those families whose lives were forever altered.

More broadly, I continue to work intensively with the Secretary of State to try find an overall agreement on a package of measures to comprehensively address the legacy of the Troubles. As these discussions continue, I continue to raise issues of reciprocity with the Secretary of State.

The recent anniversary of the Dublin Monaghan bombings and the fiftieth anniversary later this year of the Dundalk bombing bring home the urgency of securing truth for all those affected.