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Writer's pictureJOHN OBRIEN

Strategic Failure - Tactical Win - Dublin and Monaghan Car Bombings Court Decision

Updated: Nov 19

The High Court has granted leave for a judicial review brought by a man who alleges Irish authorities have failed to provide information about the Dublin and Monaghan bombings to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland.


Dublin's Talbot Street 17 May 1974


I have had a career long interest both professionally and personally in the Dublin and Monaghan Car Bombings of 1974. These were unspeakable crimes and the families have had a long battle for recognition. Therefore I have profound respect for the survivors and my remarks here are intended to be constuctive and informative.


Background


Paddy Askins, son of Patrick Askin, who was killed in the 1974 bombings, is challenging the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice over their alleged failure to co-operate with the Police Ombudsman’s investigation. The Police Ombudsman is in the final stages of preparing a thematic inquiry into wider allegations of collusion between the so-called Glenanne Gang and British security forces in the mid-1970s. Irish Legal News 13 November 2024


This Judicial Review relates to a request from the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman (PONI) to supply information to their Operation Newham. Similar information has been supplied already by the AGS to a British Police led Operation Denton, which is a review into the activities of a Loyalist gang. This is the so called Gleananne Gang and their collaborators. The Dublin and Monaghan Killings have allegedly been included in both of these exercises by the British. I strongly argue that it is the Primary and Exclusive Responsibility of Dublin to lead on the Dublin and Monaghan Killings (because the crimes were committed in the Southern jurisdiction) and not to abdicate responsibility. No legal or operational case can be sustained by the Northern Authorities for the Dublin Monaghan atrocities.The requests for information should be flowing from the South to the North not the other way round. It is obvious that there should be good cooperation, perhaps joint investigation teams operating on both side of the Border with primacy resting with the South.


Tactical Gain but Strategic Failure


The Court win is a temporary Tactical gain but lacks Strategic sustainability because the Dublin and Monaghan outrages have been subsumed into Operation Denton (many cases) which is a British initiative with no jurisdiction in the republic. Successive Dublin Governments have evaded their responsibilities for years. They failed to have the single biggest atrocity in the history of the Troubles properly investigated. They ignored the jaw dropping information that Prime Minister Wilson had informed Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave not once, but twice that the British had interned those responsible.


There are literally hundreds of cases in Northern Ireland arising from the Troubles. The British State has obstructed court cases and coroners hearings into those killings. There is a wider issue in the North and the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings have been buried in that process. The victims' families are long overdue justice for their loved ones and they are right to target the British establishment but the primary point of focus should be Dublin.


Inexplicably no legal challenge has been made against the Irish Government within whose jurisdiction the crimes were committed. Those crimes were not committed in the North, they were committed in the South. The terrorists who carried out the killings came from the North and they acted in conjunction with sinister British security actors.


Therefore the primary responsibility rests with the Dublin government and with the Garda Commissioner Drew Harris. Mr. Harris knows more about legacy issues than any one on this island. There have been calls for him to be brought before the Dáil Justice committee to share his knowledge.


In my Book The Great Deception 2024 jaobrien.ie I have explored the bombings in detail. Here is an example of the questions, asked and answered.


(1) Did the Dublin Government learn of the identity of the Bombers from the British Government?


Yes, the British Prime Minister Mr. Harold Wilson informed Mr. Liam Cosgrave “that they knew who the bombers were, and they had interned-them” This information was exchanged on two occasions, September 11, and November 21, 1974.


(2) Did the Dublin Government act promptly on the information supplied by the British?


No, Judge Barron in a scathing finding commented harshly on the failure of the government to pursue the information supplied at the time. This was a continual failure, and no action was taken until 19 years after the attacks following the Hidden Hand documentary in 1993. Substantive action was not taken until 1999 resulting from pressure from the group Justice for the Forgotten (JFF). This action was confused and self-limiting. Three separate actions were organised, (1) A Judge led Inquiry with no powers of compellability, conducted in private with no verbatim recording of the exchanges. (2) The formation of a Dáil Sub Committee commissioned to review the Judges findings, including the fact that his brief had been increased to consider other cross border attacks. (3) The ordering of a Commission of Investigation as the last formal government inquiry, and this was conducted on much restricted terms of reference. The government refused to hold a Tribunal of Inquiry despite the overwhelming evidence for this or a similar approach. This was even though the government ordered another Tribunal at the same time into “suggestions” of collusion into the murder of two RUC officers. The known facts regarding the Dublin and Monaghan and subsequent attacks far exceeded the “suggestion” benchmark.


(3) Did the London Government act promptly on the information supplied to the Irish Government?


No, even though on their own admission the perpetrators lived in their jurisdiction and the cars and explosives used came from their jurisdiction.


They maintained this policy of studied indifference, despite and occasionally issuing placebo words of comfort to Dublin. The British had at their disposal a vast intelligence network with unmatched technical and human resources at their disposal. Notwithstanding their public position it was obvious that this group of Loyalists posed an internal threat to security in Northern Ireland and despite this they were deproscribed early in 1974 and were not reproscribed until the following year. It was equally obvious that the British had a highly developed intelligence network and this network as a matter of normal duty would have taken an intense interest in the attacks. Potentially these forces could have been directed internally against British interests. It is most revealing that the attacks scarcely seemed to garner a mention or a call for action. I wonder why that was.


Why have successive Irish Governments failed to order a specific inquiry in Dublin into the Bombings? This is a question which people repeatedly ask of me. It seems to me that both governments adopted a pragmatic if morally corrupt posture of applying the dictum,


"The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend"


This was based on the undeniable fact that the IRA and particularly the Provisional IRA posed a major threat to security in both jurisdictions. Consequently the single biggest atrocity in the history of the Troubles was allowed to fade away until the Hidden Hand Documentary of 1993.


Outgoing Government's Position


The position of the outgoing government was outlined to the Dáil by the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee in response to a series of questions from Richard Boyd Barrett.



Minister McEntee 20 June 2024 Replying to a Dáil Question

 

As the Deputy correctly pointed out, last month marked the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974. It is deeply regrettable that to date no person has been held responsible for what were absolutely barbaric attacks that killed 34 people, injured 258 and impacted many more lives.


The Garda investigation files into these bombings and the murders that took place remain open. It is still an ongoing file. (Where is the tangible evidence to support this contention)

 

Any new evidence[ that comes to light, or may come to light, from whatever source, will be pursued by An Garda Síochána.

 

On engagement with the families and survivors, on 17 May senior Government representatives joined the families of the victims and survivors at commemorative events. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, attended, as did other colleagues. Every year, Government representatives attend these commemorations[2], reflecting the ongoing commitment of the Government to the victims and survivors.

 

State level engagement by officials also takes place on a regular basis. Officials meet and engage with the families of the victims and survivors and their representative group, Justice for the Forgotten[3]. State funding is provided to Justice for the Forgotten under the reconciliation fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs. As the Deputy knows, it is an organisation that supports families affected by the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and this support has been key in enabling the families to pursue their campaign for justice and truth.

 

In terms of others supports to the families and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in their campaign for justice and truth, there are many instances where records related to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings have been made available and Department of Justice and Garda records were released to the Barron and MacEntee inquiries.

 

More recently, I have implemented bespoke measures to enable An Garda Síochána to provide access to relevant information relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. This is for Operation Denton as part of the ongoing independent[4] UK Kenova review. Operation Denton is an analytical review by the Kenova investigation team into the activities of a particular group of individuals known as the Glenanne gang in Northern Ireland.

 

As an analytical review being carried out in another jurisdiction, rather than a formal criminal investigation, there was no legal basis upon which Garda assistance could be provided. This created at the time a legal obstacle to delivering on the strong desire on the part of An Garda Síochána, the Government and me to co-operate with Operation Denton to the maximum extent possible.

 

To unblock this, it was necessary to create a dedicated co-operation mechanism. In the summer of 2022, I signed a directive under section 25(1) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 directing the identification and preparation for release of relevant material to Operation Denton[5].

 

Subsequently, in order to facilitate the transfer of information[6] to Operation Denton, I signed the necessary data protection regulations. This assistance has been acknowledged, most recently by Sir Iain Livingstone, the head of the Kenova review, who referenced the high level of co-operation being received from An Garda Síochána and the ongoing support of the Government.

 

I assure the Deputy of my continuing commitment to supporting An Garda Síochána in pursuing this work and in providing the greatest assistance possible. An Garda Síochána continues to engage with Operation Denton, and anything that emerges from that review will be considered in the context of its open investigations. I again call on any person who has any information, no matter how small he or she thinks it might be, relating to the bombings to make contact with An Garda Síochána.

 

Finally, a core part of supporting the families is through the implementation of the all-party Dáil motions that call on the British Government to allow access by an independent, international judicial figure to all relevant documents relating to a series of bombings, including the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

 

This remains a priority, and again I assure the Deputy that the Government continues to raise this regularly with the British Government, most recently at the BIIGC, which took place last April.

 

These are meetings the Tánaiste and I attend with our UK counterparts and they give us an opportunity to discuss many issues but in particular to discuss individual legacy cases with the UK Government.

 

We are absolutely committed to seeking out the truth[7] behind these absolutely appalling events and to securing some measure - and I stress "some" - of comfort for the victims' families and the survivors.

 

She went on to state.

 

I appreciate that this has been for a long time extremely difficult for the families. In many of the Deputy's questions he has sought information as to why no Garda files relating to this case at all can be given to the families. This is an open case. This is still an open file. This is information the Garda has relating to an ongoing case. Irrespective of whether it is something as significant, large-scale and devastating as this or an individual case relating to one or two people, if there is an open file, if there is an ongoing investigation, if gardaí have information relating to that, it can never be released and will never be provided to the families. Information has been provided to the Barron and the McEntee inquiries. Those inquiries took place and that information was provided on that sound legal basis. There is also information within my Department, but there is archives legislation which sets out when, how and where information can be provided and, obviously, the law will be adhered to in that regard. I appreciate the difficulty this puts on the families, but the Garda has not said this is a closed case. It is actively seeking information to see if anything further can be done here. It is actively engaging with operations Kenova and Denton. (Why is Dublin not taking the Lead Role) It is actively seeking the truth to try to find the truth and answers for the families because, as I said at the outset, it is beyond regrettable that nobody has been held responsible for these atrocities.

 

As a Government, we will do everything we can to continue to work with the Garda and our UK counterparts and, above all, to continue to work with the families to try to find answers and to hold somebody responsible for these atrocities.

 

What has been made very clear is that the Garda is engaging. In fact, as regards the structures that needed to be put in place to allow the Garda to provide information where it could not with the ongoing investigation, those measures were implemented and changed in order that gardaí could provide the information they have. It has been made very clear to me that the information is being provided, that they are co-operating and that they want to engage and want to undercover the truth here, just like all of us. I appreciate from the point of view of the families the disappointment at not being able to access certain information.

 

However, when there is a file that is open and ongoing, irrespective of the case, the number of people involved or when it happened, information that might prejudice an ongoing case cannot be provided. We need to make sure we continue to do everything we can to uncover the truth[8] here, and that is exactly what this Government has done over many years. Again, I cannot stress how regrettable it is that nobody has been held accountable, but we must continue to work in whatever way we can to try to change that.

 


[1] There is significant material available which has never been subject to formal analysis by the Garda Síochána.


[2] The Dail record for that event wrongly states the location of the Dublin Bombings and despite my request to have the record corrected nothing has been done.


[3] Justice for the Forgotten (JFF) has advocated for the families for many years. Inexplicably they have not challenged the Irish Government who have sole responsibility for ensuring that the crimes are investigated by the Garda Síochána and their current Commissioner.


[4] This is a Review been run by the British Police as a result of a court order in Belfast. It cannot be considered “Independent” in the ordinary sense of that word and it is an involuntary exercise,


[5] Operation Denton is a Review undertaken by the British Authorities primarily into the activities of a group known as the Glenanne Gang. This is NOT  a criminal investigation and the police officers involved have no jurisdiction in the republic.


[6] This statement defies credulity in that all of the key information relating to crimes are located in the British system. Such information as exists here has been achieved through the perusal of documents and third party information. It is a fact that the current garda commissioner has extensive knowledge of Legacy Crimes in the North and he certainly should be proffered as a witness to a domestic investigation.

 

[8] The Minister should have launched an investigation here in this jurisdiction in search of the truth . She will also be aware that there are ongoing investigations being pursued by the Gardaí in respect of the bomb attacks on Belturbet, Clones and Pettigo on the 28 December 1972. This is the obvious logical course of action because the these crimes were committed in the Republic. There is no legal, ethical, moral or operational reason why the Dublin and Monaghan Car Bombings should be disregarded and handed over to the British.

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