Forgotten victims of a hidden massacre
Forgotten by the Fine Gael/Labour government (and successive Fianna Fáil governments), forgotten by the gardaí, forgotten by the media and forgotten by the Irish and British establishments.
However, following the Barron report, this biggest murder in the history of the Irish state might be known more accurately as the Hidden Massacre.
It is now clear, as many relatives have long claimed, that there was, and still is, a massive cover-up of the sinister origins of the deliberate killing and wounding of hundreds of Irish citizens. Judge Barron says that while it is likely that RUC and UDR men were involved, he didn’t find conclusive evidence of high-level collusion.
This is hardly surprising as the British government, army, intelligence services and RUC refused to co-operate with this and previous inquiries and, as Barron reports, such orders are unlikely to have been written down.
When the forgotten families previously asked for an inquiry into claims of collusion, they were dismissed as fanciful or absurd by gullible and/or propagandistic journalists and experts. When they tried to get information on, or even inquests into, the 34 deaths they were refused by gardaí and the courts.
When they held commemorations for the dead, many of which I attended, they were largely ignored, with the notable exception of the Special Branch who monitored and photographed the mourners.
It is high time that these long suffering families and survivors were allowed at least a modicum of justice by having a public inquiry with powers to subpoena witnesses and documents.
If the Taoiseach is serious about helping the bereaved, he should put public pressure on the British government to co-operate this time, rather than preaching to the rest of the world about terrorism.
Dr Seán Marlow,
90, Willow Park Road,
Dublin 11.
