Families of those killed in the Birmingham pub bombings have welcomed a legal ruling ordering a coroner in England to reconsider his decision to restrict the scope of inquests into the atrocity.

Families of the Birmingham pub bombings victims claim they are having to “beg” for money to fund a legal bid to overturn a coroner’s ban on naming suspects.

Gardaí have been asked to interview self-confessed IRA bomber Michael Hayes by lawyers acting for the Birmingham pub bombings inquests.

Fresh inquests into the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings are to get under way amid a war of words between lawyers and the British Government about legal funding.