The president of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, has stressed that families of the victims of the Troubles should not be told to “move on” and deserve the truth about what happened. Higgins made the comments at a commemoration event marking the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in which 33 people lost their lives. Although the Ulster Volunteer Force claimed responsibility almost two decades after the attacks, nobody has been convicted. Higgins said that the failure to investigate the bombings was a “manifest failure” and condemned the fact that nobody has been held accountable.
There were systemic failures at the state level with possible collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries, the president said. Important forensic evidence disappeared and there has been a refusal to supply information. The president added that both the UK and Irish governments had failed to “initiate suitable responses in the aftermath of the attacks”. The bombings result in the largest loss of life on any single day of the Troubles.
The president also criticised the UK’s Legacy Act, a law which is designed to close down investigations into alleged historical offences. Higgins said it was “not morally acceptable, nor is it politically feasible” to ask those affected by the Troubles to forget the past.
Speaking to the relatives gathered at the commemorations, Higgins stated that he shared in their feeling of being abandoned and failed by the system and that “justice demands that they deserve the truth – no more, no less.” Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Simon Harris and Tánaiste (Irish Deputy Prime Minister) Micheál Martin also attended the events. A mass was held at St Mary’s Pro Cathedral on Friday in memory of the people killed and injured in the bombings.
The police service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has made documentation related to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings available as part of an effort to provide “unfettered access” of unredacted material for the investigation of legacy cases. Earlier, Martin said the investigations had been “inadequate” and noted that further inquiries into the attacks had raised the question of possible collusion which he was following up with Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More