Irish Republican News · June 21, 2004

Dublin/Monaghan group goes to Europe

Relatives and survivors of the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings are going to the European Court of Human Rights in their battle for a full public inquiry.

Justice for the Forgotten, which represents the bereaved and survivors of the atrocity, has urged the Dublin government to renew pressure on its British counterpart to establish an inquiry into the atrocity that left 33 people, as well as an unborn baby, dead.

In Dublin at the weekend, the group commended a parliamentary committee for calling for further investigation into evidence of collusion by British military forces in the car bombings and the failures of the ensuing police investigation.

Criticising the British government for its failure to cooperate with the inquiry, the inquest and the Dublin parliament, the group said it had instructed lawyers to lodge two classes of complaints with the European Court of Human Rights.

They are arguing that a prima facie case has been established that the UK, through its security forces, colluded in the bombings, in breach of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Greg O’Neill, for the ‘Justice for the Forgotten’ group, said: “We have moved beyond the suspicion and speculation.

“Having spent eleven years working on this case in different forms, the families and their lawyers are satisfied we have now prima facie evidence of collusion and participation in the bombings.”

The group said it accepted that an effective investigation on collusion required the participation of the British state.

“Our preference is for a voluntary binding agreement between the Irish and UK governments to pursue an effective human rights investigation... This would be under the aegis of and in accord with the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement,” a spokeswoman added

The group also repeated its demand for a full public inquiry into the bombings and criticised the Dublin government of the time.

Mr O’Neill said the Dublin government should hold “nothing less than a public tribunal of inquiry into those grave matters which require immediate investigation.”

COLLUSION VICTIMS HEAD TO US

Meanwhile, a nationalist victims group flew to America yesterday to urge senior US politicians to put pressure on the British government to initiate a public inquiry into British Crown force collusion.

Kelly Hamill, Pauline Davy-Kennedy and Sharon Pickering, are representing the An Fhirinne (Truth) victims’ group on a week long visit to New York and Washington where they will meet senior Democratic and Republican politicians on Capitol Hill.

It is understood the delegation may also meet with former president Bill Clinton and his wife Hilary, who is a US senator.

Kelly Hamill’s father Patrick was shot dead in 1987 by a unionist death squad organised by British army agent Brian Nelson.

Pauline Davey-Kennedy’s father John, a SInn Féin councillor, was shot dead in 1989 with weapons supplied by Nelson.

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