The Government is seeking advice from the Attorney General's office on right-to-life and reputation issues concerning individuals named in the Barron report on the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, in which 34 people died.
It has also been indicated that, when the report is published, the names of some individuals mentioned may be deleted.
Both matters were relayed to an inquest in Dublin yesterday by the Dublin city coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, following correspondence with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who has read the report. It was presented to him on October 29th.
Later in the proceedings Mr Michael Mansfield, senior counsel for two victims' families, asked that in the context of the "undoubted connections between the perpetrators and agencies of the Irish and British states" the coroner have his own separate counsel "as an independent judicial figure in these matters".
It also emerged at the inquest that the Barron report on the 1974 bombings may be published early next month, and that Mr Justice Barron's report on the 1972 and January 1973 Dublin bombings (in which a total of three people died) may be published at the end of this month.
Mr Cormac Ó Dúalacháin SC, for 32 victims' families, said they had a commitment from the Taoiseach that the 1974 report would be published "within weeks".
It would first go before an Oireachtas Committee and, from discussion with committee members, he said he believed it would be published by the second or third week of December.
He asked that Dr Farrell request that files from a Garda investigation into the bombings, conducted in 1993-94 following a Yorkshire Television programme, be made available and that files from police investigations into the theft of four cars in the North, used in the bombings, also be made available. Relevant information from the forensic services in the North should also be sought, he said.
Mr Mansfield commented that, in correspondence with the Taoiseach on publication of the Barron report, he was "slightly surprised that if he had dates in mind [for publication], they were not included".
He asked that "great care" be taken to ensure details of the report would not be made known to families through leaks in the public domain. They should see the report before publication, he said.
He felt a larger venue than the Dublin Coroner's Court building would be necessary for the inquest proper, to accommodate all the family representatives and legal teams.
Mr Fergal Foley, for the Garda Commissioner, asked whether the request to seek files from police in the North concerning cars used in the bombings might not be straying outside the parameters of the inquest.
Dr Farrell said he was investigating the scope of the inquest in this and other matters and was also investigating whether it might take place at another venue.
He presented the legal teams with indexes of statements collected in relation to the bombings and said a further 1,600 statements from gardaí would also be made available.
The inquest was adjourned to January 23rd, 2004, when a "directional hearing" will take place.
