‘We owe it to those who died to get an explanation’

BERNIE McNALLY was finishing work for the day when the bomb went off on Talbot Street, Dublin.

Aged 16, she lost an eye and spent six weeks in hospital. The customer she was serving in the shoe shop where she worked was killed instantly.

For years afterwards, Bernie lay in bed at night “sweating buckets and not understanding why”.

“It’s something I live with every day,” she says.

“In 1998, I had to have the eye removed completely and as a 16-year-old girl it was hard to cope with the loss of sight and the cosmetic damage.

“If I think hard enough I can be back to that day in seconds.

“The scene was just one of devastation, people were lying dying, walking around injured.

“I feel passionately for the people who died, who never got the chance like I did, and I feel that we owe it to them all to get an explanation.

“The fact that successive Irish governments have never got an answer from the British Government or pushed hard for one is a terrible indictment of our country — it is shameful.”

When the explosion went off, Bernie thought it was thunder.

A woman, originally from the North, warned her that it was a bomb; the woman was killed a few seconds later.

Bernie believes that yesterday’s report should create a renewed sense of importance about who was behind one of the worst atrocities in the history of the Troubles.

“The work that has been done to put this report together is tremendous and everyone who is involved with Justice for the Forgotten feels that we are making steps forward to get to the truth, but we can’t do it alone, our Government has to stand up and be counted.”

Bernie is married with four children and lives in Dublin. She is a member of Justice for the Forgotten.