Former minister rejects findings of Barron report

Former Justice Minister Patrick Cooney has told the Oireachtas justice committee that the Barron Report into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings was based on erroneous assumptions.

Mr Cooney said the report’s conclusion that the Government of the time showed little interest in finding and prosecuting the bombers was damaging and hurtful.

He said this conclusion was based on the false assumption that the Fine Gael-Labour coalition should have or was entitled to interfere with the garda investigation into the attacks, which killed 33 people on May 17, 1974.