Showband massacre to be discussed in Dáil

THE families of the Miami Showband who were massacred in 1975 yesterday received assurances from the Taoiseach that the issue of collusion would be discussed in the Dáil early next year.

During a meeting which lasted almost two hours in Government buildings yesterday, the campaign group Justice for the Forgotten impressed upon the Taoiseach the need for a public inquiry into the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and other atrocities.

Their meeting followed Wednesday’s publication of a justice committee report which concluded that widespread collusion between British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries was behind a number of atrocities north and south of the border.

Yesterday, secretary of the campaign group, Margaret Urwin said incidents of collusion were operated on a “grand scale” resulting in “multiple murders.”

“We have to now see how much pressure will be brought to bear on the British because there is such overwhelming evidence,” she said.

“But we are in wait and see mode until the Mc Entee report is published on December 11.

“But people can be assured that all of this is not going to end with a Dáil and Seanad debate. We will be continuing on from that point,” she said.

Yesterday, the Taoiseach informed the families and campaign group that a debate would be held on the issue of collusion as soon as possible and pointed towards a possible date in February.

At the meeting with the Taoiseach, the families of Brian McCoy and Francis O’Toole and survivor Stephen Travers, were asked specific questions regarding the night of July 30, 1975, when five members of the showband were killed.

The report published on Wednesday revealed that the identities of the killers of the Miami Showband were known by senior officials in the British Government within weeks of the massacre.