Dublin-Monaghan Terrorist Attack

national | crime and justice | news report

Thursday December 11, 2003 11:27

by Maubere

Here are the conclusions of the Barron Inquiry into the biggest crime in Ireland this century

Tithe an Oireachtais
An Comhchoiste um Dhlí agus Ceart, Comhionannas, Cosaint agus
Cearta na mBan
Tuarascáil Eatramhach maidir leis an Tuarascáil ón gCoimisiún
Fiosrúcháin Neamhspleách faoi Bhuamáil Bhaile Átha Cliath agus
Mhuineacháin
Nollaig 2003

Houses of the Oireachtas
Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights
Interim Report on the Report of the Independent Commission of
Inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings
December 2003

http://www.gov.ie/oireachtas/frame.htm

CONCLUSIONS:

The conclusions of the Inquiry regarding the facts, circumstances, causes and
perpetrators of the bombings can be summarised as follows:

1. The Dublin and Monaghan bombings were carried out by two groups of
loyalist paramilitaries, one based in Belfast and the other in the area
around Portadown / Lurgan. Most, though not all of those involved were
members of the UVF.

2. It is likely that the bombings were conceived and planned in Belfast, with
the mid-Ulster element providing operational assistance.

3. The bombings were a reaction to the Sunningdale Agreement - in
particular to the prospect of a greater role for the Irish government in the
administration of Northern Ireland. The timing of the attacks may have
been inspired by a number of important events around that time including:

(i) a statement of the Taoiseach in April 1974 in which he expressed
the hope that formal ratification of the Agreement would take place
in May;
(ii) statements by Northern Ireland Secretary Merlyn Rees (also in
April) proposing the phasing out of internment and a gradual
reduction of the British Army presence in Northern Ireland;
(iii) the advent of the Ulster Workers Council strike.

4. A finding that members of the security forces in Northern Ireland could
have been involved in the bombings is neither fanciful nor absurd, given
the number of instances in which similar illegal activity has been proven.
287
However, the material assessed by the Inquiry is insufficient to suggest
that senior members of the security forces in Northern Ireland were in any
way involved in the bombings.

5. The loyalist groups who carried out the bombings in Dublin were capable
of doing so without help from any section of the security forces in
Northern Ireland, though this does not rule out the involvement of
individual RUC, UDR or British Army members.
The Monaghan bombing bears all the hallmarks of a standard loyalist
operation and required no assistance.

6. It is likely that the farm of James Mitchell at Glenanne played a significant
part in the preparation for the attacks. It is also likely that members of the
UDR and RUC either participated in, or were aware of those preparations.

7. The possibility that the involvement of such army or police officers was
covered-up at a higher level cannot be ruled out; but it is unlikely that any
such decision would ever have been committed to writing.

8. There is no evidence that any branch of the security forces knew in
advance that the bombings were about to take place. This has been
reiterated by the current Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and is
accepted by the Inquiry. If they did know, it is unlikely that there would be
any official records. Such knowledge would not have been written down;
or if it was, would not have been in any files made available to the
Secretary of State. There is evidence that the Secretary of State of the day
was not fully informed on matters of which he should have been made
aware. On that basis, it is equally probable that similarly sensitive
information might be withheld from the present holder of that office.

9. The Inquiry believes that within a short time of the bombings taking place,
the security forces in Northern Ireland had good intelligence to suggest
who was responsible. An example of this could be the unknown
information that led British Intelligence sources to tell their Irish Army
counterparts that at least two of the bombers had been arrested on 26 May
and detained. Unfortunately, the Inquiry has been unable to discover the
nature of this and other intelligence available to the security forces in
Northern Ireland at that time.

10. A number of those suspected for the bombings were reliably said to have
had relationships with British Intelligence and / or RUC Special Branch
officers. It is reasonable to assume that exchanges of information took
place. It is therefore possible that the assistance provided to the Garda
investigation team by the security forces in Northern Ireland was affected
by a reluctance to compromise those relationships, in the interests of
securing further information in the future.
But any such conclusion would require very cogent evidence. No such
evidence is in the possession of the Inquiry. There remains a deep
288
suspicion that the investigation into the bombings was hampered by such
factors, but it cannot be put further than that.

11. As stated, there are grounds for suspecting that the bombers may have had
assistance from members of the security forces. The involvement of
individual members in such an activity does not of itself mean the
bombings were either officially or unofficially state-sanctioned. If one
accepts that some people were involved, they may well have been acting
on their own initiative. Ultimately, a finding that there was collusion
between the perpetrators and the authorities in Northern Ireland is a matter
of inference. On some occasions an inference is irresistible or can be
drawn as a matter of probability. Here, it is the view of the Inquiry that this
inference is not sufficiently strong. It does not follow even as a matter of
probability. Unless further information comes to hand, such involvement
must remain a suspicion. It is not proven.

save preference

Comments (16 of 16)

Putting this in context for the yoot

by hopewecanbematesagainjohnhopeyrmaiswell

Tue Apr 13, 2004 01:08

Imagine you are in the welcome inn and body parts come flying in the windows.

orange forces

by Ben

Tue Apr 13, 2004 01:02

The orange forces will be too busy re-enacting what they did in Kincora.

Just the tip of the iceberg

by rooster

Mon Apr 12, 2004 18:01

Sooner or later Bliar will withdraw his english troops thatb have protected the dirty rebels for so long. It is then that the orange forces will strike the evil south, Dublin/Monaghan was just a taste of what will come if you continue to interfere with the people of Ulster.

Civilians targeted

by TT

Mon Apr 12, 2004 05:07

The bombs were placed where they would kill as many members of the public as possible, and they were set to explode when most people would be leaving their places of work.
None were planted near any economic or strategic targets. They were directed specifically at civilians.
All southern governments then and since failed to mount any worthwhile investigation. Crucial evidence was removed from the Department of Justice and the Garda Headquarters, which is a clear indication of collusion at several levels.

Civilians were not targeted on those operations

Mon Apr 12, 2004 03:02

The operations were targetting areas of economic importance (Dublin) and the IRA safe houses (Monaghan)

is a rooster a cock?

by Northern Eye

Sat Apr 10, 2004 03:09

But Rooster, being a stern supporter of the British and, assumedly, the War on Terror, you surely condemn all illegal acts perpetrated against civillians do you not?

At the end of the day..................................

Sat Apr 10, 2004 02:01

Dublin had an illegal claim over the six counties so therefore it was a legitimate target in a time of war.

selective memories

by maubere

Mon Dec 15, 2003 14:57

ah yes, the old "don't live in the past" argument, I've heard Saddam is planning to use this as his defence when he's put on trial, he'll probably say "most of my major crimes were over 10 years ago, can't we just move on and forget who killed who and who's children were gassed?"

seriously though, it strange there's always a selective approach when it comes to "living in the past", crimes comitted by britain, usa etc are to be forgotten, if someone said the Kurds should forget saddams crimes they would be (rightly) called an apologist, those who say we should forget the dublin-monaghan bombings are apologising for terrorism,
my own opinion is that there should be a truth and reconciliation commision, all (i repeat all, eg IRA. Loyalist, Garda, RUC/british army etc) info about the North needs to come out

Re: Yawn Yawn

by sean van vocht

Sun Dec 14, 2003 18:35

Yeah boring ... right on Billy Boy .....
I can well believe it - certainly for Dublin 4 members of the MTV generation with their goldfish attention spans for whom anything that happened more than about 5 minutes ago is "History" .....

But maybe if your family had lost someone in this "incident" you might view it differently ......

And yes this is 2003 ... and maybe the Cory Report will be published before the year's end .....
http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-726457033-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper.asp
"Finucane, a prominent Belfast solicitor, was murdered at his home in 1989 by masked men using a weapon "stolen" from the British Army. It came weeks after British minister Douglas Hogg claimed some lawyers in the North were "unduly sympathetic" to the IRA's cause. "

Some people might say there's still a lot of open sores waiting for closure ...
Not that wee Billy Boyd will give a toss either way .... loike I mean that was 1989 .... I mean loike light years ago ....

And anyway we all know that the Brits have cleaned up their act and the Paras are busy bringing freedom and democracy to far-flung places like Iraq and Afghanistan ......

So who in their right mind would worry about a few unsolved murders of innocent civilians way back when ......

Yawn ....Yawn....

by Billy Boyd

Sun Dec 14, 2003 02:17

Boring.

Norn Iron is finally moving towards something like a civilised society. Let's just leave it at that. There was not a great deal the govt in the Republic could have done given that the perps fled over the border into another jurisdiction.

It's 2003 now so who cares??

Good man ipsiphi ...

by shan van vocht

Sun Dec 14, 2003 00:40

Now you're starting to get the big picture ...
I remember the time (not too long ago) when all you could do was squeal "Omagh Omagh" ... and whenever Dublin-Monaghan was mentioned your eyes glazed over .....

Now maybe your eyes are beginning to open ...... and you begin to see Dublin-Monaghan for the open sore that it is .... the single worst atrocity of the "Troubles" with the perpetrators never brought to account ....
Irish civilians murdered on Irish soil by the nefarious working of the British secret services and their tracks covered up by the renegades in the corridors of power down in the Free State ....

And you wonder why some of us get a wee bit cynical when we hear the politically correct Free Stateniks chanting their mantra of "Omagh Omagh" .....

That is not to say that Omagh wasn't a nasty piece of work ..... but there are some kind of strange double standards at work when those who loudly chant "Omagh Omagh" seem to succumb to lung failure as soon as Dublin-Monaghan comes up for discussion ....

"errrrrrr Dublin-Monaghan loike what was that ... ? ehhhh way before moi toime loike man" ........

And then ye wonder why nobody takes ye seriously ......

Thank you John.

by iosaf

Thu Dec 11, 2003 23:17

I have a feeling you may come from the generation born before 1969. I come from the 70s, any memory I may have of the bombings in 1974 are very coloured by the Black and White TV pre wanderly wagon era.
Which means I have had to look and learn.
It is not only contemporary Irish society [who we might remember are now _mostly_ "born after '69"] but many other contemporary cultures and nations, states and countries that suffer a yawning gap of discourse, history, understanding, fact for what have appeared to have become "the crucible decade of modern Europe".
It always struck me that the history books ended just before they ought to have, and that when the next generation came along, they had already internalised the notion of "history ending".
I doubt any society may experience reconciliation without truth, which is why I suppose the cliché diplomats have always put the two terms together, but I've not yet seen any state that can bear the pain of being truthful in search of reconciliation.

So, I and others younger than I, may reflect that Sunningdale was seen as the cause for a bomb attack on what I was brought up to believe was my "country" which was different to what was "not my country" because they had bombs and we didn't.

Wanderly wagon years gave way to Bosco gave way to Zig n Zag gave way to GFA.

and the thing is it _is_ exactly the same for a generation of people who never knew and a generation of people who never forgot all over the world.

We have a lot to learn from each other.

Serious implications

by John Meehan

Thu Dec 11, 2003 16:57

The extremely serious implications of the Dublin/Monaghan bombings

33 people murdered, several injured and maimed for life, the bombing carried out by a loyalist organisation, probably aided by British State Intelligence.

What did the Irish State do? A few speeches from Cosgrave FitzGerald and Cruise O'Brien and then....the police files are lost in the Department of Justice.

Bear in mind this atrocity was preceded by bombings in late 1972 - providing Fine Gael with an excuse to abstain in a Dáil vote on a repressive amendment ot the Offences Against the State Act brought in by the Jack Lynch Fianna Fáil government. Had FG stuck to its original position of opposing this measure - it would have been DEFEATED.

The 1972 bombing, and a subsequent one outside a CIÉ premises, was also done by loyalists/British Security. The police again failed lamentably to investigate.

The Irish state bears a huge responsibility for "The Troubles". Allow yourself make the following analysis of the 1970 Arms Trial : a jury found that the defendants Haughey, Luykx, and the two Kellys were innocent. This implied that any arms importation was done with government approval.

Yet Lynch O'Malley and Cosgrave (the man who as FG leader triggered the sacking of Blaney and Haughey, and the resignation of Kevin Boland, following a tip-off from British government sources) were prepared to see their political opponents go down for several years - on trumped up charges.

Think about this next time you read or hear former Ministers from that era - Dessie O'Malley, Garret Fitzgerald, Conor Cruise O'Brien rage about their "opposition" to "violence" and their love of "peace" and "democracy".

Think about the documented activities of the police "Heavy Gang" in the 1970's - once this was exposed to the light of day 1976 a split was triggered in the Labour Party - the departure of Matt Merrigan Noel Browne and others - and Fianna Fáil trounced the FG/Labour coalition.

Well done the campaigners in Justice for the Forgotten and the author Don Mullan.

Dublin-Monaghan Web Links

by End the Silence

Thu Dec 11, 2003 13:18

Some backround info on bombings, given the shameful response to the bombings I think we should all learn more about it
Dublin-Monaghan Links

Justice for the Forgotten
http://www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org

Photos from 17 May 1974,

Parnell Street
http://www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org/photo.php?catid=1

Talbot Street
http://www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org/photo.php?catid=3

Monaghan
http://www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org/photo.php?catid=9

Pat Finucane Centre
http://www.serve.com/pfc/dubmon/intro.html

Don Mullen investigation
http://www.serve.com/pfc/dubmon/mullan.html

The Guardian (UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1104399,00.html

Justice Barron Report

http://www.gov.ie/oireachtas/frame.htm - Committees-Joint and Select Committees-Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights-Joint

Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave refused to cooperate with ITV investigation of Dublin Monaghan bombing

Thu Dec 11, 2003 12:46

Our "leader" refused to answer questions on Dublin-Monaghan according to ITV-What has he to hide and why didn't RTE do a proper investigation into the terrorist attacks??
This is a transcript from ITVs First Tuesday program about the Dublin-Monaghan bombing, taken from ther Barron Report,

"We asked former Irish Prime Minister Cosgrave what pressure he’d put on the British authorities to trace the bombers and if HE knew his police force had a list of
suspects.
He declined to answer any questions about the bombings.

Liam Cosgraves address to the nation on 17 May 1974

"To the evil men who have perpetrated these deeds we express the revulsion and condemnation which every decent person in this island feels at their unforgivable acts. The Government are as yet unaware of the
identity of those responsible for these crimes… While our society is menaced by men who perpetate cowardly acts of violence the gardai and the army will give the citizens all the protection they can"

A proud day to be Irish

by Roisin Dubh

Thu Dec 11, 2003 11:54

My own conclusions on the bombings are:

1: The British Govt committed an act of war aginst Ireland on 17 May 1974

2:The "Irish" Govt/establishment concluded that keeping normal economic realations with Britain was more important than trivial matters such as the murder of 33 people

3: The Irish govt collaberated like good quislings in the cover up of this terrorist attack

4: The impicaions of the truth are too big for the ruling clases in Britain and Ireland,
they are

*The rulers of the UK are murdering terrorists, the same as Osama Bin Laden,
*The rulers of Ireland are cowards who betrayed everything they are supposed to represent,
* The War on Terror is a sham because the British Govt are terrorists themselves
*Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour, the PDs and the wider Irish establishment have all colluded in the cover up, that includes Garret Fitzgerald, Dick Spring, Charlie Haughey, John Bruton, Mary Harney, amoung others
*The next time you hear them bleating on about terrorism, murder, crime, democracy, human rights, law and order etc just remember what they did
*The quisling press, eg Tony O'Reilly, Kevin Myers, Eoghan Harris, Eilis O'Hanlon etc have played a loyal (pardon the pun) part in protecting the terrorists
*The Irish people have to lose their shoneen, inferiority complex and stand up for their rights, not bow down meekly before our former(or maybe not so former) imperial masters

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Comments (16 of 16)