Cowen facing legal battle over McEntee inquiry

Incoming Taoiseach Brian Cowen is facing a legal battle over an official investigation into the massacre of 33 people in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, it emerged today.

Families of those killed in the biggest single act of mass murder in recent Irish history have lodged papers with the High Court challenging key aspects of the MacEntee Inquiry.

Justice for the Forgotten, which represents the victims, said it was reluctantly taking the action after being refused access to evidence gathered in the Government-established investigation.

Spokeswoman Margaret Urwin said there was also mounting frustration over Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's refusal to disclose why part of the inquiry, about a potential suspect and his links to the Ulster Volunteer Force, was never published.

"We have very reluctantly taken this action because we have had very good relations with the Taoiseach and the Taoiseach's office down through the years," she said.

"But our lawyers have been looking at this for some time now and they have consulted with experts in the European Convention on Human Rights and they feel we have a case."

The inquiry headed by Patrick MacEntee SC was tasked with establishing why the original garda investigation was wound down in 1974 and why a number of leads were not followed up.

This included information about a man who stayed in the Four Courts Hotel in the days before the Dublin explosions who was believed to be a close associate of the leading suspect in the Monaghan bomb the same day.

"We don't know the extent of his involvement, it may have been peripheral," said Ms Urwin.

"But not only did the MacEntee Inquiry fail to report on it, but it failed to explain why it didn't report on it."

The report published last April stated that Mr MacEntee SC explained to Mr Ahern why he was restricted in uncovering his evidence about the man who stayed in the Four Courts Hotel.

Justice for the Forgotten said it has written to the Taoiseach three times over the last year seeking an explanation for what they describe as the report's failings but that none of the letters have been answered.

They are taking the case against the Taoiseach and the Attorney General and it is expected to take up to nine months before a first hearing, after Mr Ahern steps down as leader of the country.

The MacEntee Report uncovered a catalogue of failures by the gardaí and the Department of Justice including missing files, lax procedures and evidence lost in the aftermath of the bombings.

He said it was not possible to fully account for how many files were missing, lost or destroyed from the original garda investigation.

While he could not confirm why the evidence was missing, he refused to rule out unauthorised removal of the documents.

The probe could not substantiate one of the key concerns of the families of the victims that pressure was brought to bear on the Gardaí to dump the investigation just three months after it began.