When things might get totally out of hand it’s best to stand idly by

THE most disconcerting aspect of the Barron Report into the investigation of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 was the discovery that material has gone missing from the files of the Department of Justice.

Tampering with such material is a criminal offence and it means that somebody within the department could be guilty of collusion in what Mr Justice Henry Barron described as “the most devastating attack on the civilian population of this State to have taken place since the Troubles began”.

The report was particularly critical of the role played not only by the gardaí, which is understandable in the circumstances, but also of the part played by Liam Cosgrave’s government in the aftermath of the car bombings.