Irish and British air accident investigators are to begin a joint review of evidence gathered after the 1968 Tuskar Rock disaster which claimed 61 lives and led to allegations of an official cover-up.
The decision to conduct a new official review 30 years after the biggest single loss of life in Irish aviation history was taken yesterday after a meeting between the British ambassador, Dame Veronica Sutherland, and Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke.
The 1970 Irish government report on the loss of the aircraft found no obvious reason for the disaster, but suggested that an unmanned aircraft - a drone target aircraft or a missile - "might have been there".
Renewed public interest in the tragedy has grown following the 30th anniversary of the crash of the St Phelim. Controversial claims have been made that British missile tests led to the downing of the Aer Lingus aircraft.
There are no plans for the review group to hear submissions from relatives or other interested parties. The Minister and the British embassy in Dublin yesterday said no new evidence had emerged to determine the cause of the crash. "It is still a mystery," Ms O'Rourke said.
The British embassy said: "There has never been substantive evidence showing that the crash could be ascribed to British military or other action. We were certain as it was possible to be that it had been nothing to do with the United Kingdom."
Last night RTE's Prime Time said that in the past two months the British Ministry of Defence had analysed its missile capability at the time of the crash. A confidential report concluded that no land-based British anti-aircraft missile had the range to strike an aircraft off the Irish coast. It said the most powerful missile at the time had a range of only half the width of the Irish Sea. The programme also said British cabinet papers relating to a missile test site in Wales were extracted from the files and destroyed in 1982, "just as the media posed questions about missile involvement in the crash".
Relatives of the victims have given a qualified welcome to the announced review.
Mr Michael Burke, who lost his mother and grandmother in the tragedy, urged Ms O'Rourke to ensure the review would be of all relevant documents.
"I believe the plane was hit by a missile or another plane and I can't see the British Ministry of Defence ever releasing any document which will tell us that," Mr Burke said.
Mr Jerome McCormack, who lost a brother, said the minutes of a meeting of British and Irish officials held in Wales on the day of the disaster have never been revealed.
"If they have nothing to hide, then surely they should bring everything out into the open."