13 January 2003 - From RM Distribution:

 Dublin/Monaghan bombs came from British Army - report
 

Material for bombs that killed 33 people in Dublin and Monaghan came from the British Army, according to reports at the weekend.
 
The findings of an Irish inquiry into the bombings, on May 17, 1974, are currently being written up by Mr Justice Henry Barron, a retired judge.
 
According to the report, the inquiry has been given evidence that British Army members supplied loyalist murder gangs with explosives and that these were used in the three bombs which exploded in Dublin during rush-hour traffic.  The explosive material likely originated in RUC police raids on republican arms dumps. according to expert analysis.
 
Justice Barron has been forced to delay his inquiry repeatedly because British authorities have been slow to give him vital information.
 
His investigation, due to be completed in April, will bolster a widely-held belief that the bombings were engineered by undercover British military agents colluding with unionist paramilitary groups.
 
A British Army bomb disposal expert concluded from technical examination that the bomb material could not have been manufactured by the loyalists and must have been provided to them.
 
According to a Sunday Times report, the explosive expert's 100-page report submitted to the inquiry states:
 
"Loyalist terrorist groups did not have the skills to undertake this operation in 1974. Further, I do not believe they have ever possessed them, otherwise a similarly complex operation would have been repeated."
 
The expert's report estimates that only five people, all of them British soldiers, combined this level of access to seized explosives and to loyalist murder gangs.
 
It describes another bomb in Monaghan, near the border with Northern Ireland, which detonated 90 minutes after the Dublin blasts and killed eight people, as of standard loyalist construction. It is believed to have been built by a different loyalist unit.
 
The bomb disposal expert's report was commissioned by Justice for the Forgotten, an Irish government-funded group for the victims of the atrocities, at Barron's request in 2001.
 
The expert also believed two other loyalist bombs were probably composed of explosives provided by the British Army.
 
One of these was detonated at Kay's Tavern in Dundalk, a bar which was at the time used by republicans, on December 19, 1975 and claimed two lives. The second exploded on the same day outside a bar in Silverbridge, County Armagh, and killed three
people.
 
A lawyer for the families of Dublin/Monaghan victims has said he could not verify the report, and was concerned that leaks would cause anxiety for relatives.
 
He said they wanted to see the three-year long inquiry published as soon as possible to prevent a drip-feed of information.
 
Human rights group The Pat Finucane Centre also said it had not seen the report, and was said to be sceptical about the claims that materials for a bomb attack in Silverbridge in 1975 were originally seized from the IRA.

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See also : The Dundalk Bombing

The Dundalk Democrat, 26 January 2002: Blayney bombing to feature in new book

The Dundalk Democrat, 4 May 2002:  Dundalk bombing enquiry

The Dundalk Democrat, 18 May 2002: Book claims to identify Dundalk bombers

Magill Magazine, September 2002: The Truth Trickles Out   Mystery has always surrounded the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. An independent inquiry has been set up to look at the events surrounding the attacks, and the bombing of Dundalk the following year. Donall O Maolfabhail reports on its likely findings.

The Dundalk Democrat, 21 September 2002: Barron investigations lead to public inquiry into Dundalk bombing

The Dundalk Democrat, 21 December 2002: Author identifies those who may have been responsible Book on bombing to be launched on Saturday

The Dundalk Democrat, 21 Decemnber 2002:  Nearly 30 years on from Dundalk bombing and the fight for justice continues

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