An insult to those who died in bombings

THE reported wreath-laying ceremony by Queen Elizabeth at the Irish War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge taking place on May 17, the 37th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, is a further insult to those who lost their lives at the hands of loyalist murder gangs.

The current website of the UDA, a group which directed an assassination campaign against Catholics through its proxies in the UVF and the UFF, proudly lists such notables as Johnny Adair, Jim Gray and Andre and Ihab Shoukri as former members.

In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring Commission reported that the UDA was primarily involved in criminal terrorist acts like organised crime, drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering, prostitution and robbery. To issue an invitation to this odious group to partake in a ceremony honouring those Irish who died in two world wars is an affront to civilisation.