The Taoiseach said that any information the Lord Mayor of Dublin had on the 1974 bombings should be submitted to Mr Justice Barron who investigated the incident.
Mr Ahern was replying to Opposition deputies who questioned him about Mr Royston Brady's claim that his father's taxi had been hijacked by those involved. "If the Lord Mayor of Dublin has anything of note to say, he should reply to the letter he received from Mr Justice Barron and give that information," said Mr Ahern. "I am not aware of whether he has any information that would be useful." Mr John Gormley (Green Party, Dublin South East) asked if Mr Ahern had discussed the matter with Mr Brady.
"Would it not be in the interests of those who have suffered in this atrocity that, as Taoiseach and as a colleague of the Lord Mayor, he would ask him what he actually knows? Has the Taoiseach discussed the matter with him?" Mr Ahern said the Lord Mayor was two years old when the bombings happened and his memory of any information would not be very good. "If he does have information, he should answer Mr Justice Barron's letter. It is a pity the people who have information did not give it over the years. There are people who have very good information, but, unfortunately, we do not have much of that."
Asked by Mr Tony Gregory (Independent, Dublin Central) about holding a public inquiry into the bombings, Mr Ahern said a process had been agreed which would determine whether an inquiry was necessary.
"If we are to have an inquiry, it must be in Northern Ireland or in Britain because only there will we get the witnesses to attend. Justice for the Forgotten has accepted that having it here is of no value because we will not get the witnesses from the North or from Britain."
