Kenny meets Dublin and Monaghan bombings families

Meeting latest in a series Taoiseach holding with relatives of the Troubles’ victims

(Left - right) Margaret Urwin, Monica Duffy Campbell and Bernie McNally from the Justice for the Forgotten campaign group after their meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny at Government Buildings, Dublin. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
(Left - right) Margaret Urwin, Monica Duffy Campbell and Bernie McNally from the Justice for the Forgotten campaign group after their meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny at Government Buildings, Dublin. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Taoiseach Enda Kenny met with families and survivors of the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings in Government Buildings tonight. The families of other victims of the troubles in the state also attended.

The meeting was the latest in a series Mr Kenny is holding with the families of victims of the troubles, including the Disappeared, The Kingsmill Massacre, East Fermanagh and the Enniskillen bombing.

The Dublin and Monaghan car bombings killed 33 civilians, an unborn child and wounded almost 300 - the highest number of casualties in any single day during the Troubles.

“I invited the families and survivors to meet me to hear firsthand how their lives have been affected by some of the worst bombings from the troubles,” said Mr Kenny.

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He expressed support for the all-party Dail motions of July 2008 and May 2011 urging the British Government to hand over all original documents in their possession relating to the bombings.

The Taoiseach added that his Government and previous Governments had raised this issue with their British counterparts on a number of occasions and would continue to do so.

“Dealing with the legacy of the past is not as easy task. There is no simple formula of words or actions that can put things right. My Government is strongly committed to working in partnership with the British Government and with our colleagues in the Northern Ireland Executive to find ways to address the legacy of conflict in Northern Ireland,” he said.

Stephen Collins

Stephen Collins

Stephen Collins is a columnist with and former political editor of The Irish Times