Two lawyers who were invited by an Oireachtas sub-committee to advise on the prospects of a tribunal of inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings are to return to give evidence next week after the Justice for the Forgotten group complained about the nature of their submissions yesterday.
Mr Greg O'Neill, solicitor for the group, which represents relatives of victims of the atrocities, claimed that documents it had supplied to the committee had not been passed onto Mr Michael Collins SC and Mr Antonio Bueno QC.
As a result, the advice of the two lawyers did not "take any account" of the points raised by group. Following the complaint, the chairman of the sub-committee, Mr Seán Ardagh, agreed to recall the two lawyers next Monday when they will give their opinion in light of the group's points.
Mr Ardagh said that while this meant the sub-committee might not report by its March 10th deadline, "any delay will not be significant". Mr O'Neill said: "We regarded the failure to brief these eminent lawyers with the detailed submissions furnished and prepared by us over many weeks as being a breach of faith."
In their joint-submission yesterday, Mr Collins and Mr Bueno said the High Court in the UK was unlikely to force the British government to disclose key security information to an Irish tribunal.
"In such an event, the establishment of any tribunal of inquiry would turn out to be largely cosmetic."
Mr Bueno said a British judge would be "mightily impressed" by the UK government's claim to the Barron inquiry that disclosure would "endanger life or national security".
He said the judge would weigh this consideration against the request of a foreign tribunal reporting to a foreign parliament. In such circumstances, "English national interest is going to prevail".
The lawyers also challenged claims that Ireland had a duty under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights to set up a tribunal.