Taoiseach meets bomb victims' families

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was today meeting the families of some of those killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, just hours before the report into the atrocities was due to be published.

In a goodwill gesture, the Taoiseach will meet the executive committee of the Justice for the Forgotten group, and its legal team.

“Bertie Ahern is the only Taoiseach since 1974 who’s taken the slightest bit of interest in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings,” said campaign secretary Margaret Urwin.

“It may have been easier for him because of the peace process but he has been very helpful and pro-active in pushing for the report’s publication.”

Mr Ahern asked to meet the families, the executive committee and its lawyers, for a social meeting as a gesture of goodwill, she said.

In the Dáil today, Tánaiste Mary Harney thanked Justice Henry Barron on behalf of the Government for his work on the report, and said she had no doubt its findings would be debated in the House in the New Year.

The Barron report was due to be published this evening.