Vol. 454 No. 2
16 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Justice her response, if any, to the claims made in the recent RTE "Prime Time" programme on the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10176/95]
34 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Justice when she will produce a report on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings in view of her recent meeting with relatives of the victims. [10417/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 34 together. I met representatives of the families of victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings on the occasion of the anniversary of those atrocities on 17 May last, following which I issued a detailed statement on the outcome of the most recent Garda inquiries into those events. I will let the Deputies have a copy of my statement, the detailed text of which was not published in the media. Those meetings and the issue of a detailed statement on the Garda inquiry, gave effect to commitments made by myself and my predecessor in the matter.
At my meetings with the families and in the statement I subsequently issued, I made it clear, at the request of the Garda Commissioner, that the Garda files on these investigations remain open, and that if any lead should emerge which might bring the culprits to justice, it would be pursued rigorously.
The Garda authorities are, therefore, examining the most recent RTE "Prime Time" broadcast which addressed, among other issues, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, to see if it may have produced or pointed to any new evidence that would advance their investigation of those bombings. The Garda authorities have not concluded that examination but, once their final assessment of the significance of the programme is available, I will communicate with the representatives of the families, and also inform the Deputies who tabled these questions of the positon.
