Answer bombings question, says Deputy Carey

The British Government today faced a call to give a definite answer to allegations that members of its security services colluded with loyalist paramilitaries to plant car bombs in Ireland.

The bombs, in Dublin and Monaghan, killed 33 people when they exploded in May 1974.

Fianna Fail backbencher, Pat Carey called for a ‘‘definitive yes or no’’ as to the authenticity of leaked British documents, which suggested that the British Government would claim sovereign immunity in the face of litigation over the bombings.

The letters, which were re-produced in a Dublin newspaper at the weekend, ‘‘amount to an admission of guilt’’ if they were genuine, said the Dublin North West deputy.

‘‘The British authorities have refused to deny the authenticity of recently leaked documents which assert they were planning to claim immunity on the charge of colluding in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings,’’ Mr Carey said.

‘‘These allegations, if true, amount to an admission of guilt on their behalf.

‘‘If the British have nothing to hide they would face families of the bomb victims in court with a defence instead of hiding behind the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

‘‘We need a definitive yes or no from the British now. Are these documents real or not? Thirty-three people died on the streets of Dublin and Monaghan in what was the largest single atrocity of the troubles.

‘‘Nobody has been charged and the families of the victims still await justice,’’ he added.

Sinn Fein’s only representative in the Irish Parliament, Caoimhgin O Caolain, deputy for Cavan and Monaghan, yesterday called for a debate in the chamber following the reports.

But Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told members last week that Britain had handed over an ‘‘enormous amount’’ of security files to Dublin Government inquiry into the 1974 bombings.

Mr Justice Henry Barron, who is due to report his findings in the autumn, is being urged by survivors and families of the dead to recommend a full tribunal of inquiry.

The families had planned litigation but postponed it in 1999 when the Barron inquiry was set up.

They have said that whether they pursue claims after the inquiry would depend on its findings.

A spokesman at the British Embassy in Dublin said today: ‘‘We never comment on alleged leaked documents.’’

But a British Foreign Office source said they ‘‘absolutely and utterly reject’’ Mr Carey’s claims that the documents amounted to an ‘‘admission of guilt’’.

The source said: ‘‘This was lawyers kicking around what we would do in the event of a challenge.

‘‘Careful reading of the documents show that they are clearly hypothetical in nature. There is not a shred of anything in them which suggests there is some problem that we are trying to cover.

‘‘This is the kind of thing that lawyers do when there is a question of a suit being brought against the state, that is how Governments protect sources, that is how they protect papers,’’ the source added.