British make no promises on future co-operation on 1974 bombings

THE British ambassador to Ireland yesterday refused to say if the British Government would co-operate fully with any future independent public inquiry into the 1974 Dublin/Monaghan bombings which killed 34 people.

Mr Justice Henry Barron's report on the bombings has criticised the British Government's lack of co-operation and failure to produce more than a handful of documents.

And the Barron report did not rule out collusion by members of the RUC, UDR or British Army in the bombings. The report said there was "unsubstantiated evidence from a credible witness that some of those involved in the bombings were working closely with, or were agents of the RUC special branch of British Army Intelligence".

The Oireachtas Justice sub-committee is holding public hearings on the Barron Report and will recommend to the Irish Government if a further independent inquiry is necessary within three months.

But a group of the relatives of those killed in the bombings, Justice for the Forgotten, want a public independent inquiry to find out the truth of what happened 30 years ago.

Asked if the British Government would co-operate fully with any future independent inquiry into the bombings, British ambassador Stewart Eldon said: "We will have to wait and see what happens at the public hearings that are now going on we will see what comes out of these hearings."

Mr Justice Henry Barron said the British Government refused to make original documents available to the inquiry. Following a trawl of 68,000 files, then Northern Secretary of State Dr John Reid sent a 16-page document to the Barron inquiry in February 2002 nearly 18 months after information was sought.

But Mr Eldon insisted in Cork yesterday that the British Government had co-operated.

Asked why the British Government did not provide the inquiry with access to their archive files, Mr Eldon said: "There was a huge amount of paper involved let us not prejudge the outcome of the present public hearings."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised to co-operate with the Oireachtas hearings into the 1974 bombings. But it is not expected that any British officials will travel to Dublin to testify before the committee.