Relatives say hearing is delaying justice

The Oireachtas sub-committee hearing into the findings of the Barron Report was yesterday dismissed as another delaying exercise that would achieve absolutely nothing for justice.

A number of families of those killed and injured in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings yesterday informed the committee they would not be participating in the hearings.

In a statement read out at the opening day of the hearing, lawyers for the O’Neill and the O’Brien families, and for Bernie Bergin, described the hearing’s remit and scheme as, at worst, insulting and suspicious, or at best, naive and foolish. They referred to the precedent of the Abbeylara judgment which, in effect, constrained the committee from making findings adverse to the reputations of persons who are not members of the Oireachtas.