Families of 1974 bombing victims seek McEntee files

RELATIVES of victims of the Dublin/Monaghan bombings have asked the High Court to order the Taoiseach to release documents from the McEntee Inquiry into the atrocity.

The relatives want the documents so that a full and proper criminal investigation can be carried out into the bombings in which 34 people were killed in 1974.

Martha O’Neill, Elizabeth O’Brien, and Frank Massey are seeking the order of discovery against the Taoiseach, Ireland and the Attorney General.

They say the documents should be made available because the State is obliged to vindicate their rights under the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The State says such discovery is not relevant to the relatives’ main action that a full investigation and/or public inquiry should be carried out.

The State says confidentiality agreements were reached with the British government who provided the documents. It also says there is a public interest privilege as disclosure could present risk to the lives of people and damage the relationship the State has with external agencies who co-operated with the inquiry.

The court heard yesterday that despite a Garda investigation which was wound up, two inquiries and an inquest in the last ten years, the people who planned and executed the bombings have never been made amenable to the criminal courts.

Eoin McGonigal, counsel for the relatives, said the recent inquiry by senior counsel Paddy McEntee, published in April 2007, obtained new material which the relatives want access to.

The material was significant and the families believe it contains answers to questions as to who the perpetrators were.

That material, Mr McGonigal said, was handed over to the office of the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in apparently sealed boxes.

It had been made available by British authorities subject to a confidentiality clause.

However, from Dáil statements, it appeared the permission of those authorities had been given to Mr Ahern who released some of that material to the gardaí and the DPP, counsel said.

The families demand for disclosure met with the criteria for relevance and necessity required for discovery orders, he said.

Brian Murray, counsel for the State, said the court would first have to decide what the nature of the case seeking a new investigation is before it can decide on the relevance of any documents.

Mr Justice Roderick Murphy said he would give his decision after Christmas.