Calls to ‘open the files’ on bombings

Bereaved families and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings have written an open letter to Elizabeth Windsor to mark her arrival in Ireland on the 37th anniversary of the atrocities.

A total of 33 people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in the no-warning explosions in Dublin and Monaghan on May 17 1974. It was the greatest loss of life in a single day of the conflict.

‘Justice For The Forgotten’ has appealed to the monarch to urge British Prime Minister David Cameron to open secret files which were withheld during an inquiry.

“Without this move, deeply troublesome questions remain unanswered,” it wrote.

It is believed the blasts were carried out by loyalist paramilitaries with British state collusion. A full inquiry has been rendered impossible by Britain’s refusal to reveal its documentation on the attacks.

Sinn Fein has also this week erected a large banner outside its headquarters in Dublin city centre in support of the truth campaign.

Justice For The Forgotten said the sky did not fall in after Mr Cameron’s apology for Derry’s Bloody Sunday last June.

“So on this momentous occasion, our plea to Prime Minister Cameron is: Pursue the truth with vigour -- make us all stronger -- open up the files.”

Victims of the bombings will be honoured at an annual wreath-laying ceremony at the Dublin memorial in Talbot Street tomorrow morning, as Windsor begins her visit.

Margaret Urwin, spokeswoman for Justice for the Forgotten, said Mr Cameron -- who will be in Dublin with the royals on Wednesday -- has a moral obligation to release the files.

“The extraordinary coincidence of the British monarch arriving on the actual anniversary of the worst atrocity in the history of the Troubles gives the British government and British prime minister a wonderful opportunity to make a genuine, significant gesture of reconciliation,” she said.

“We are hoping that good will come from this.”

Meanwhile cross-party politicians in the Dail will this week debate and vote on whether the government should press Mr Cameron to release all files relating to the bombings.

The private member’s motion, put forward by Sinn Fein, reiterates a previous all-party motion which was passed in July 2008.

“It is widely believed that this attack, involving the greatest loss of life of any incident in the conflict, was carried out with the involvement of British intelligence,” Sinn Fein TD Aengus O Snodaigh said.

“To date no action has been taken despite the motion receiving unanimous backing from all parties and it is for this reason that we are taking the opportunity to restate that call and are urging An Taoiseach Enda Kenny to press this matter directly with British prime minister David Cameron.”

Urgent Appeal