Lawyers advising an Oireachtas sub-committee on the prospects of a tribunal of inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings have said they remained pessimistic about any further co-operation from the British and Northern Ireland governments. Olivia Kelly reports.
Mr Michael Collins SC and Mr Antonio Bueno QC told the committee that they could not agree with submissions made by families of victims of the atrocities that the two governments would "psychologically, politically and diplomatically" find it "extremely difficult" to refuse to co-operate.
Last week, Justice for the Forgotten, the group representing the families, claimed documents it had supplied to the sub-committee had not been passed on to Mr Collins and Mr Bueno.
As a result, the advice of the two lawyers did not "take any account" of the points raised by the group. Following the complaint, the chairman of the sub-committee, Mr Seán Ardagh TD, agreed to recall the lawyers to give their opinion in light of the group's points. The lawyers had been been specifically asked to advise on the possibility of legally compelling the two Governments to produce evidence through High Court orders.
Mr Bueno told the sub-committee yesterday they remained pessimistic this could be achieved.
"Our views, which were ones we came to with regret, must remain that the prospects of obtaining further and worthwhile evidence from the UK authorities on a voluntary basis is minimal and that it is unlikely that worthwhile evidence will be obtained in pursuance of letters of request issued by a tribunal of inquiry."
They were not "in any way attempting to subvert Justice for the Forgotten" from pursuing their calls for a public inquiry, Mr Bueno said, but they could not permit the "natural sense of outrage at these atrocities" to colour legal advice.
The lawyers did however soften a statement made last week that the establishment of any tribunal of inquiry without full co-operation from the two governments would would be "largely cosmetic".
Yesterday they said the conclusion Mr Justice Barron appeared to have reached, that inquiries could not realistically be taken further without co-operation from the UK government was, "a particularly important matter for the sub-committee to consider".
A sub-committee of the joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice has been hearing submissions on the bombings which killed 33 people for the last six weeks.
It will report to Government before the end of March on whether a public inquiry into the events of May 1974 would shed any more light on the atrocity than the Barron report published last December.