A former deputy Garda commissioner has told the inquests on the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings that gardaí suspected Northern Ireland security forces were involved with loyalist paramilitaries in perpetrating the atrocities of 1974.
Mr John P McMahon, a retired deputy Garda commissioner and chief superintendent of Cavan/Monaghan at the time of the bombings, said gardaí suspected that the UVF was assisted by members of security forces in the North in constructing the bombs and that suspicion had never been ruled out.
"During the investigation a number of suspects of loyalist persuasion were identified all living north of the Border," Mr McMahon said.
When asked by counsel for the Justice for the Forgotten group, Mr Cormac O'Dulachain, if gardaí had identified a particular organisation, Mr McMahon said: "Yes, we believed it was the UVF in Portadown."
Mr Eoin McGonigal SC, for the O'Brien and O'Neill families and Mr Frank Massey, asked if the Garda had a view of the capacity of the UVF to construct the bombs used.
"Doubts were certainly entertained as to their capacity to do it," Mr McMahon said. The explosive used in the bombs, ANFO, was more commonly used by the IRA, and the UVF was not thought to have the expertise to make such bombs, he said.
Mr McGonigal asked if it was believed that the UVF was helped to make the bomb by persons within the Northern Ireland security forces.
"That suspicion was entertained.
"My belief is that the loyalist paramilitaries did not have the expertise of the IRA. Their capacity was in some doubt," he said.
When asked by Mr McGonigal if it was the belief within the Garda that the bomb used in Monaghan was constructed on a farm in Portadown by the UVF who may have been assisted by the security forces, Mr McMahon replied: "That has never been ruled out. It remains a possibility."
Mr McMahon said he did not know if gardaí brought this suspicion to the attention of the government at the time.
He said he and a Dublin colleague, Chief Supt Anthony McMahon, had met with the RUC in Portadown in relation to the bombing suspects on May 23rd, 1974.
He said he had no notes in relation to the meeting, and did not remember the specifics of what had been discussed.
Relations between the northern and southern authorities were "fragile and sensitive" at the time, he said.
"The view, in the south, was that information forthcoming about loyalist paramilitaries was not as fulsome as information about the Provisional IRA."
However, he said, there was an "ad hoc" sharing of information that led to the identification of UVF members suspected of involvement in the bombings.
Gardaí were not able to hold an identification parade because the political situation at the time meant it was "not acceptable to proceed" with one.
Although gardaí had suspicions as to the individuals involved in the bombings, there was not sufficient evidence, as far as he was aware, to support a prosecution.
"No evidence emerged to justify criminal proceedings.
"Identification was a problem. It would have been very important to have an identification parade but that was not feasible at the time because of political and other considerations," he said.
"There is a major gulf between suspicions and evidence. Without evidence there is little hope of securing a prosecution," he added.
Meanwhile, families of the victims of the bombings were asked to leave the coroner's court yesterday morning and the public gallery was cleared to protect the anonymity of two witnesses who had seen individuals driving cars used in the Dublin bombings.
