Britain still refuses to fully co-operate with bombs probe
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the Barron inquiry into the 1974 bombings should be finished early in the New Year, though he admitted that Justice Barron was still waiting for key information from the British authorities.
Mr Ahern said that if that information was not supplied, it was either unavailable or was in the British security system, meaning that it was uncertain if the information would ever be handed over. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny asked the Taoiseach to comment on a letter from the British Ministry of Defence to former employees, telling them not to co-operate with the inquiry or provide any information to the families of the victims of the
atrocities.
The Taoiseach said he was surprised by the tone and the contents of the letter, but that the British Government had made it clear that co-operation was a matter for the individual, not for the ministry. Mr Ahern said British Prime Minister Tony Blair had given a clear instruction that information should be handed over, but again said it might be held by the security services.
Last March, the inquiry received some information from the then Northern Secretary Dr John Reid, but has received no further communication since. At the recent British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, Dr Reid promised more material, but no further information has arrived yet.
“If we were to set up a public sworn inquiry, the difficulty is that it is unlikely we would get this information. We will get it this way or we will not get it at all. That is why it is important to keep pressing for it,” Mr Ahern said. Confirming that Justice Barron was seeking other information, the Taoiseach said the British authorities were aware of the information he wanted. The Taoiseach also raised the issue at a meeting with the new Northern secretary Paul Murphy
yesterday.
Following the meeting, a spokesperson for the Taoiseach said Mr Murphy had given his assurance that his officials would do their utmost to ensure the information was provided.
The Taoiseach said it was not intended to widen the independent commission of inquiry’s terms of reference any further. “Justice Barron is writing the report and it is not run into the ground, but the more information he has, the better the quality of his report will be. Its quality will not result from any fault of his, it is simply the case that the more information he has the more authority he will report with,” he said. The inquiry has cost 1.6 million to date, including the legal contacts with the inquiry by Justice for the Forgotten.
