‘What we have heard today are things we have known for years’

THE Justice for the Forgotten campaign group last night described the report as incredibly significant but queried why the committee had stopped short of recommending a public inquiry.

Margaret Urwin, secretary of the campaign group, said yesterday’s report had left no ambiguities in detailing the extent of collusion between loyalist groups and Britain.

While recognising that the decision to refer the matter to the Dáil for debate might better ensure the co-operation of the British Government, Ms Urwin was critical of the committee for not taking the opportunity to make more recommendations within the report.

“Why has the committee passed the buck back to Oireachtas and not called for an inquiry? I think the committee should have come out clearly and stated what the future should hold,” she said.

Last night, families bereaved by the Dundalk bombing were said to very pleased with the findings of the justice committee.

“None of the conclusions beat around the bush. It comes through very clearly that the British were involved in international acts of terrorism. Collusion was endemic and widespread,” said Ms Urwin.

With the McEntee report due for publication on December 11, she said the campaign group would be allowing the Government this intervening period to decide what to do next.

She said it was highly likely that the same gang responsible for numerous other atrocities would also be linked to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings.

“What we have heard today are things we have known for years through our own research. We will be contacting the Taoiseach as soon as possible to ask how we will progress from here and we would hope to liaise with his office,” she said.

Greg O’Neill, legal adviser to the Justice for the Forgotten, said there remained unanswered questions about why garda operations stopped in their investigation tracks. He said there were huge questions to be asked about the garda response. The fact that the Historic Enquiries Tribunals had found that gardaí had yet to visit victims in the south was scandalous, according to Mr O’Neill.