Bombings report – Hope for families of victims

The Oireachtas Justice Committee set up to examine the recommendations of the Barron Report advocated yesterday that a public tribunal should be set up in Northern Ireland to inquire into the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

The committee also called for an inquiry into the role of the Garda Siochána to be conducted by a Commission of Investigation on the lines prescribed in a bill currently before the Oireachtas.

The Commission of Investigation would inquire into how documents went missing, why leads were not followed up and why garda investigations into the atrocities were wound down in less than two months.

Thirty years on, the committee’s recommendations may not be the most desirable, but they are the most practical, because they afford the best chance of success.

The families of victims were anxious for a public inquiry within this jurisdiction. That would have been the committee’s preferred solution, but it is impractical, because the perpetrators were from outside the jurisdiction and there would be no way of compelling outside witnesses to testify in this country.

The committee recommended a judge of international stature be appointed to chair the inquiry and the British government be asked to agree to terms of reference based on the Weston Park proposals, which provided for investigations into deaths in which official collusion was suspected.

The appointed judge must have the power to call witnesses to testify and to compel the production of documents. He should also be able to call for further inquiries, if needed, in either jurisdiction, and the relevant governments would be obliged to implement the recommendations within a specified time limit.

The Weston Park formula provided the basis for inquiries by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory into four controversial killings in Northern Ireland. In the course of his inquiries he held hearings in the two jurisdictions. His reports are due to be published today.

While most of the families involved are prepared to go along with those recommendations, the British must concur. If they do not agree, the Irish Government should appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

Too many questions have been allowed to go unanswered for too long. The latest proposals provide a practical hope of getting some of the answers, but after so long there is probably no way of getting at the whole truth.