Irish Republican News · November 19, 2003

Further delays seen for Cory, Barron reports

The Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern today admitted that the report his government received from Judge Peter Cory into allegations of collusion on both sides of the border was ready to be published.

The Irish government received two reports and the British, four, following Judge Peter Cory's investigation into eight murders in six controversial cases involving alleged collusion by the security forces.

The contents of the documents, submitted last month to both governments after 18 months of investigations, were due to be published simultaneously later this year.

But Mr Ahern said he was unsure whether the British government was ready to publish its side of the report, and said he would be asking the British Prime Minister Tony Blair next week.

``If their reports are not ready then we shall have to consider when we publish our report,'' he said.

Arguments over the British government's timing of publication of the report escalated recently.

Relatives of some of those murdered have pressed for early publication of the reports rather than the delay predicted by the British government.

The Taoiseach also claimed today he was just waiting for a decision to be made regarding the printing of certain names in the Barron report on the 1974 bombings of Dublin and Monaghan.

The Dublin bombs on May 17, 1974, killed 26 people in three streets, including a pregnant woman. The Monaghan bomb on the same day killed seven people. Evidence has mounted that British forces played a role in the attacks, which were claimed by the unionist paramilitary UVF.

The Barron report was due to have been completed more than a year ago, but its preparation was frustrated by a lack of co-operation on the part of the British authorities.

Ahern received the report some weeks ago, but has failed to release it to the public.

``Justice Barron gave me a letter about his concerns about some of the names being used and that is my only concern,'' he said today.

``The obvious issue arises here about the safety of the individuals mentioned, that`s really what the issue is.''

He said he may provide the names to the committee in some other way.

``I don't feel like holding them back and I don't see why I should,'' he said. ``But I am in consultation on the issue.''

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