The Taoiseach has been urged by an Oireachtas committee to press the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to initiate a public inquiry into the bombings of Dublin and Monaghan in 1974, writes Arthur Beesley, Political Reporter
Mr Ahern said the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, which last night published its report into the bombings, had made "considerable progress" in efforts to find out the truth of what happened in the attacks. However, there will be no Government decision on how to proceed until the Dáil debates the committee's report after Easter.
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, said last night that Mr Murphy had not been approached by the Government but would consider any request.
The attacks on May 17th, 1974, killed 33 people including a woman pregnant with twins. No one was ever convicted for involvement in the case. Families of the victims urged the Government to act quickly. Members of the Justice for the Forgotten group, which represents the majority of the families, called on the Government to announce a firm timetable for action on the recommendations.
The Oireachtas committee said the Government should convene statutory inquiries into why the Garda investigation was wound down in 1974, and into the loss of the Garda security file on the case. Such investigations should be established as private commissions of inquiry with powers akin to tribunals, the committee said.
The committee chairman, Mr Seán Ardagh, said there was an "exceptionally high" probability of security force collusion with the UVF bombers.
After examining the report by Mr Justice Barron into the attacks, it said that the British statutory investigation should proceed in two stages.
The committee wants a preliminary examination by a judge of international standing, similar to the work on Northern Ireland collusion cases by the retired Canadian judge Mr Peter Cory. This should be established in accordance with a treaty between the Irish and British governments, the committee said.
A full tribunal of inquiry should be convened to follow up this work.
Arguing that this presented the "best opportunity" for conducting a successful investigation, Mr Ardagh said it was appropriate to seek an investigation in Britain because the relevant records and witnesses were "in all probability" located there.
He rejected suggestions that the failure of the British authorities to provide all the information sought by Mr Justice Barron meant that a British public inquiry was unlikely. There would be an obligation on the British authorities to co-operate in the spirit of the peace process, he said.
The committee also rejected suggestions that it was passing responsibility for the investigation to the British government.
Its deputy chairman, Mr Paul McGrath, said the recommendations were "very achievable" due to the strength of the relationship between the Irish and British governments.
Mr Ardagh said the committee had legal advice confirming that the Government would be entitled to go to the European Court of Human Rights for a declaration requiring Britain to put an investigation in place.
The committee hopes an agreement between both governments would give powers to the preliminary investigation to compel witnesses to attend for interviews and to compel the delivery of records and inspect premises. While such powers were not given to Judge Cory, he received original MI5 records and access to interviewees.
By contrast, Judge Barron received only 16 pages of information from the British authorities and said the scope of his report was limited by their failure to provide him with original intelligence records.