On December 1st, 1972, a Friday evening, the Dáil was debating a Bill to amend the Offences Against the State Act which would strengthen measures against the IRA and other terrorists.
The Fianna Fáil government was facing defeat on the issue as members of both the opposition and government parties were against it.
During this third night of debate and in an atmosphere of political tension, two car bombs exploded in Dublin. The first was at 7.58 p.m. and exploded near Liberty Hall.
There were no fatalities but many people suffered injuries.
It was at 8.15 p.m. that the second car bomb exploded at Sackville Place, off O'Connell Street. This time the bomb claimed two lives. A bus-driver, George Bradshaw (30), originally from Fethard, Co Tipperary, and a bus conductor, Thomas Duffy (24), from Castlebar, Co Mayo, were killed.
The bomb, which also injured 127 people, was to have an immediate political effect.
The Dáil voted for the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Bill which introduced special emergency powers to fight terrorism.
The timing of the bombs led to conspiracy theories that they were planted in a British or loyalist operation to influence the outcome of the Dáil legislation.
The following month, on Saturday, January 20th, 1973, at the same spot, a car parked in Sackville Place exploded at 3.20 p.m.
The bomb killed Thomas Douglas (20), a native of Stirling, Scotland.
He had been living in Dublin for four months and working as a bus conductor. His mother was a native of Achill Island, Co Mayo.
At the time, the bomb was believed to have been planted by one of the loyalist paramilitary organisations.
Over the 30 years, no organisation has ever claimed responsibility for either of the bombings and nobody has ever been charged in connection with the atrocities.
Mr Justice Barron, who is bringing out a report on the Dublin bombings in 1974, is also finalising a subsidiary report dealing with the 1972 and 1973 bombings. He is expected to publish his reports in September.