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IRELAND: Call for Saville-type inquiry

01 May 2002

Edward O'Neill, whose father was one of 33 people killed by loyalist car bombs planted in Ireland on 17 May 1974, has called for a public inquiry into the events based on the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday. The Dublin and Monaghan bombings are Ireland's largest unsolved murder case and within days of the explosions the involvement of the British intelligence services was suspected because of the sophistication of the devicesand organised planning involved. The bombs were claimed by the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force but it is widely accepted that acting alone they lacked the capability to carry out the acts. Claims of British involvement have been alleged by a number of former intelligence operatives, including a Military Intelligence Officer seconded to MI6, Fred Holroyd. At least a dozen British MPs have supported demands for a thorough and independent investigation "to establish the truth."
O'Neill's call follows his disillusionment with the current Irish inquiry into the bombings, headed by Justice Henry Barron. O'Neill told An Phoblacht/Republican News "The Irish government are not interested...We had 33 people die and not one arrest, not one person questioned, not one person ever charged." O'Neill, who received horrific injuries in the car bomb that exploded in Dublin in May 1974, said that he was not questioning the integrity of Barron, but felt that he "will not be allowed to investigate the bombings properly." He, along with other victims of the bombings, have met with relatives of those killed by British soldiers on Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972, and they have formed a support group to put pressure on London, Dublin and Belfast. The Barron report is expected to be finished by the autumn.

For background on the events see Fred Holroyd and Nick Burbridge "War Without Honour" Medium Publishing Co (1989) ISBN 1-872398-00-6; Don Mullen "The Dublin & Monaghan Bombings" Wolfhound Press (2000) ISBN 0-86327-719-5; An Phoblacht/Republican News 16.5.02.