Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 February 2005
197 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Taoiseach his views on the extent of non co-operation by the British authorities with official inquiries in this jurisdiction, including inquests; the action the Government will take; his further views on whether it is acceptable that victims should be left to pursue private actions in the European Court of Human Rights. [2916/05]
View answerI received a letter recently from Prime Minister Blair on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 and the Dublin bombings of 1972 and 1973 which I passed to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights on foot of its current deliberations. In the letter dated 10 January 2005, the Prime Minister stated:
The Government welcomed the establishment of the Barron inquiry and co-operated with it as fully as possible, conducting a thorough search of all government records and, consistent with its responsibilities for protecting national security and the lives of individuals, ensuring that all potentially relevant information that was uncovered, including intelligence information, was shared with the investigation. The Government notes Mr. Justice Barron's conclusions that, while allegations of collusion between British security forces and the perpetrators of the bombing were not fanciful, he had not seen any evidence to corroborate it and it could not be inferred, even as a probability. In the circumstances, the Government concludes that no further benefit to the public interest would accrue from the establishment of an inquiry, within the United Kingdom, to re-examine these allegations. On the matter of British cooperation with Justice Barron's extended inquiry into the Dublin bombings of 1972 and 1973, it was our judgment at the time of Justice Barron's approach that, given our experience of the scale of the task in identifying relevant material in the Dublin-Monaghan and Dundalk bombings, it would not be possible to conduct another major search through our records for material relating to the 1972/73 bombings within the timescale of the inquiry.
Notwithstanding this response, I continue to believe that a mechanism should be found to allow for the independent scrutiny and assessment of material and files held by the British authorities. I reiterated this view in London yesterday.
In the final report on the report of the independent commission of inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights recommended that in the event that an inquiry based on Weston Park proposals failed as a consequence of a lack of co-operation from the Government or authorities in Great Britain or Northern Ireland, the Irish Government should consider instituting proceedings in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, pursuant to the European Convention on Human Rights, seeking appropriate declaratory relief against the UK and requiring it to put in place an appropriate investigation. The Government has not yet considered this recommendation.
