Families of bomb blast death teens demand inquiry

Families of two young teenagers killed when a 100lb bomb exploded almost 35 years ago in a small Cavan town today demanded a public inquiry.

The relatives of 15-year-old Geraldine O’Reilly and Patrick Stanley, 16, who were killed in Belturbet on December 28, 1972, said the state, ministers and gardaí have ignored their attempts to seek answers for over three decades.

One of Patrick’s sisters, Susan Stanley, said: “We need a public inquiry. Someone needs to be held responsible. They physically got away with mass murder.”

Another sister, Gretta, told the Joint Oireachtas Committee, whish is examining Justice Henry Barron’s report into the series of terrorist bombings in the 1970s, that as far as the State was concerned the families did not exist.

Both families said no-one had informed them of any progress into the investigations despite contacting TDs, several Justice Ministers and Judge Barron.

“We need to hear from the British Government and the PSNI. It is important to us that we have the answers,” Gretta said.

“We had always been told it was a loyalist attack, a loyalist bombing.”

One of the members of the committee, Joe Costello, the Labour Party spokesman for Justice, said: “We certainly heard your pleas for justice for something to be done.”

Geraldine’s sister, Frances McCann, said the bomb, believed to have been planted by the UVF, had claimed two innocent young lives in the small town, close to the border with Northern Ireland.

The O’Reilly family said the gardaí were not getting any help from Northern Ireland in their attempts to investigate it.

The families said the three bombs that went off that December night in different locations around the country almost appeared like a practice run.

Cormac O’Dulachain, SC, for Justice for the Forgotten told the sitting of the Oireachtas Committee that for the families examining the bombings almost 35 years later was not a historical exercise.

“There are wells of unsolved murders in which families are left with no communication,” he said.

Mr O’Dulachain said there were photofits of the persons believed to have driven the car containing the bomb into Belturbet on that night, similarly for the Dublin bombings.

He said a series of bombings took place during a seven week period. Mr O’Dulachain added: “It raises the question if the same people were left at large so they could continue to commit crimes?”

Mr O’Dulachain said it seemed there was still state secrecy involved and the Department of Justice were reluctant to facilitate open disclosure.

Justice for the Forgotten said it all came down to British authorities co-operating with the inquiries.

The O’Reilly family said that Geraldine was in the town that night by chance to get a bag of chips, her brother Anthony, who attended the committee sitting but was too upset to speak, was with her in Belturbet as the bomb exploded that night.

All her belongings, including her Irish dancing dress and school uniform, hung for years afterwards exactly where she had left them.

They said it was a pity their parents would not get to see the monument to the two young teenagers which is finally being built in the town.

The Oireachtas Committee heard that Patrick, who had been nominated for a GAA All Star award, had travelled from their home in Clara, Offaly to Belturbet that night as he was working to earn money to buy football boots.

His sister said their parents never recovered from losing their eldest child, and they never informed their grandmother, who died six months later, as it would have devastated her.

Over the next few days the army, gardaí and Department of Justice personnel will give evidence on the investigations to the Oireachtas Committee which is examining Judge Barron’s report for the Dáil.