The Garda Commissioner Mr Noel Conroy addressed the Oireachtas sub-committee examining the Barron Report into the Dublin/Monaghan bombings this morning.
He said recent technological and scientific advances have ensured that if an similar atrocity happened today, the investigation would differ greatly from that of 1974 and rejected suggestions that garda reports into the bombings were deliberately mislaid.
The Garda Commissioner pointed that at the time forensic science was of limited value to the investigating team.
He also said the absence of computerised records explained why two files related to the bombings had gone missing.
He told the sub-committee that the people suspected of being responsible for the bombings were living in the North at the time and could not have been interviewed.