I welcome everyone, particularly the families of the victims, the survivors and other witnesses, and thank them for attending. We hope that the publication of the fourth Barron report on the bombings of Kay's Tavern, Dundalk, and the hearings which will be conducted by this sub-committee over the next two weeks will help you and all the other families to find closure to these tragic events. The nine atrocities which we will deal with today happened in 1975 and 1976 and claimed the lives of 18 persons with many others injured. In many of the cases the perpetrators have never been brought to justice.
The main purpose of today's meeting is to hear from the families of the victims of the atrocities and from some of the survivors and witnesses. We will take the incidents in the order set out in the schedule circulated to everyone here today. I will make some brief opening remarks as we come to each incident so it will be in context in relation to Mr. Justice Barron's report.
The contributions of the families and the survivors are invaluable to the working of the sub-committee and I again formally thank you for your attendance. We want to commence the hearings by hearing from you, the families and the witnesses, so we can place at the centre of the work we are doing your feelings and what you have to say on the matter.
On 5 July 2006 the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights was asked by the Dáil and Seanad to consider the report of the independent commission of inquiry on the bombing of Kay's Tavern, Dundalk. This sub-committee was established for that purpose. We have been asked to consider the report in public session in order that the joint committee can report back to the Dáil and Seanad by 17 November for the purposes of making such recommendations regarding legislative or administrative provisions as the committee considers appropriate. This is the fourth set of hearings on inquiries made by Mr. Justice Barron. The first three have proved this kind of parliamentary activity to be vital and necessary for looking into events which have cast a long shadow over our country and the tragic history of this island during the past four decades.
The sub-committee is composed of seven members. I am Chairman of the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights and also the Chair of this sub-committee. The other members of the sub-committee are as follows: Deputy Finian McGrath, who is the Independent Deputy from Dublin North-Central; Deputy Máire Hoctor, a Fianna Fáil Deputy from Tipperary North and the Government convenor on the joint committee; Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is a Labour Party Deputy from Cork North-Central, is the Opposition convenor; Senator Maurice Cummins, the Fine Gael spokesperson on justice in the Seanad; Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Fianna Fáil, Kildare South; and Senator Jim Walsh, who is the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on justice in the Seanad. We are also helped and assisted by Paul Anthony McDermott in legal matters.
Over many years the Justice for the Forgotten, in particular, Margaret Urwin, has been very helpful. I welcome also Alan Brecknell and Paul O'Connor from the Pat Finucane Centre, both of these groups have played a pivotal role in supporting the victims' families. They will make formal presentations at tomorrow's meeting.
On the second day of proceedings tomorrow we will hear submissions from Justice for the Forgotten, the Pat Finucane Centre, the Garda Commissioner, the Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Sean Alyward, and former Detective Inspector John Courtney and former Detective Sergeant Owen Corrigan. The third day of proceedings will be held next week.
In respect of the procedures and for the benefit of those present, it should be noted that the sub-committee is bound by very precise terms of reference beyond which it cannot and will not stray. In particular, the sub-committee is not conducting an investigation on its own into the events that happened during the period concerned nor is it seeking to apportion guilt or innocence to any individual person or body. It has neither the jurisdiction nor the legal authority to perform any such function. We ask everybody appearing before the committee to respect the fact that we cannot stray beyond our terms of reference. Where, on occasion, people seek for us to do so and we would like to be able to do so, we cannot because we are constrained. I thank the witnesses for respecting that.
Everyone who comes before us today and during the remainder of our hearings does so voluntarily and we thank them most sincerely for their attendance on that basis.
The sub-committee is very concerned that any person who appears before it is fully aware that he or she is not entitled to any form of statutory or parliamentary privilege. While the members of the committee enjoy certain parliamentary privilege in respect of these proceedings, those attending and assisting us do not enjoy that same privilege.
The sub-committee would like to express its gratitude to Mr. Justice Barron for the work he and his staff have done in producing the report we are about to consider.
The first incident the committee will deal with today is the bombing of Kay's Tavern in Dundalk. To put matters in context I will give a brief synopsis of what is in the report so that people can refresh their memories. On the evening of 19 December 1975, a car bomb exploded on Crowe Street, Dundalk, outside a licensed premises known as Kay's Tavern. Two persons were killed in the explosion — Hugh Watters, aged 60, and Jack Rooney, aged 62. Both men were married with children. Many more persons were injured. The ensuing Garda investigation into the bombing was unable to find sufficient evidence to charge anyone in relation to the attack.
In his report, which this committee has carefully considered, Mr. Justice Barron concluded that the bombing of Kay's Tavern was carried out by loyalist extremists most probably associated with the mid-Ulster UVF. He concluded that it was likely that the attack was carried out on the initiative of a group largely consisting of UVF members. He determined that the security forces in Northern Ireland may or should have known who was responsible for the Dundalk bombing. He further concluded that actions by the RUC were designed to limit information relating to security forces's collusion in terrorist activity from reaching the public domain, which in turn did nothing to counteract such activity. He said that without proof as to who was involved in the bombing, allegations of collusion were impossible to prove or disprove. He said the forensic evidence was inconclusive but the nature of the explosives used suggested a possible link between the perpetrators of the Dublin-Monaghan and the Dundalk-Castleblaney bombings. He held that the security forces in Northern Ireland did receive advance warning of an impending attack on Dundalk and this warning was conveyed to the Garda Síochána. He said he was not able to establish whether the apparent sighting of the bomb convoy leaving Portadown on the day of the bombing was known to the authorities in Northern Ireland before the attack took place and in those circumstances it was impossible to say whether those authorities knew enough to have prevented the attack taking place.
The terms of reference of this sub-committee are to investigate Mr. Justice Barron's report into the bombing of Kay's Tavern in Dundalk for the purposes of making such recommendations in regard to administrative provisions as we consider appropriate, as I mentioned earlier.
With regard to the Dundalk bombing, present with us today are Margaret English, who is a daughter of Hugh Watters. I welcome Ms English and thank her for attending. Maura McKeever is a daughter of Jack Rooney. I thank MsMcKeever for coming down. Both families are represented by Mr. James McGuill, solicitor. Before Ms McKeever, Ms English and Mr. McGuill make any comments, I wish to remind the witnesses that as a result of the Supreme Court decision in the Abbeylara case, we are prevented from making any findings or expressions of culpability against individuals who are not Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
I invite Mr. James McGuill to make his introductory remarks and following those perhaps Ms English will speak followed by Ms McKeever.