Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 19 Oct 1999

Vol. 509 No. 4

Written Answers. - Victims Commission.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Ceist:

327 Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will make a statement on the concerns expressed on 12 October 1999 by the relatives of the late Mr. Seamus Ludlow and the relatives of victims and survivors of the bomb attacks in Dundalk on 19 December 1975 and Castleblayney on 7 March 1976 who at the launch of their new umbrella representative group, Border Relatives, called for a public sworn inquiry into all such attacks in this State throughout the 1970's. [20761/99]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

The Deputy will already be aware that the Government decided that an eminent legal person should be appointed to inquire into the Dublin-Monaghan and Dundalk bombings and the case of Séamus Ludlow along the lines recommended in the report of the victims' commission.

Discussions have taken place between officials of my Department and the Department of the Taoiseach with the Justice for the Forgotten group about concerns which the group have about what the Government decided and there will be further contact in relation to this. I also propose to meet with relatives of Mr. Ludlow in the near future.

I should mention that the report of the Victims' Commission referred at paragraph 5.4 to what were described as "other cases of concern" and made a recommendation in relation to them. As I informed the Deputy in response to Question No. 57 of 12 October, while two recommendations in the report were of sufficient urgency to warrant action at an early stage and lead to the decision which I have referred, the report states that a period of three months after publication should be allowed for responses to it from interested parties. Following such consultations an outline implementation plan should be produced within a further three months. In keeping with this recommendation, I invited interested parties to send their comments on the report to my Department by 5 November. At that stage I will bring proposals to Government regarding implementation of recommendations. This will take full account of the views expressed in the responses to the report.