16th May 2011

Open letter to the British Monarch

The bereaved families and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings have addressed an open letter to Queen Elizabeth 11 on the occasion of her visit to Ireland on the 37th anniversary of the bombings - see below.

Dear Queen Elizabeth,

Your visit tomorrow is a sign of improving relations between our two islands and peoples.

Thirty-seven years ago, on 17th May 1974, a series of no-warning car bombs murdered 34 men, women and babies in Dublin and Monaghan. It was the greatest loss of life in a single day of the Troubles.

We are appealing, through you, to your Prime Minister, David Cameron, to mark the occasion of this historic visit by a genuinely significant gesture of reconciliation.

We urge him to open the files that were withheld from Judge Henry Barron's inquiries into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and all other cross-Border bombings perpetrated in this jurisdiction.

All requests, including a cross-party resolution adopted by Dáil Éireann on 10th July 2008, have so far falen on deaf ears. Without this move, deeply troublesome questions remain unanswered.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, which examined Judge Barron's reports concluded:

' We are dealing with acts of international terrorism that were colluded in by the British security forces.'

On 15th June 2010, David Cameron made a historic gesture in apologising for Bloody Sunday when he told the House of Commons:

'It is right to pursue the truth with vigour and thoroughness. Openness and frankness about the past, however painful, do not make us weaker, they make us stronger'.

The sky did not fall in. Rather, it led to an unprecedented act of reconciliation by the Protestant churches in Derry.

So on this momentous occasion, our plea to Prime Minister Cameron is:

Pursue the truth with vigour – make us all stronger – open up the files

Yours sincerely

The picture above is of the open letter from Justice for the Forgotten that appeared on the front page of the Irish Times on 16th May 2011.

Justice for the Forgotten
63 Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin 1.
Phone: 00353 1 8554300
www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org


13th April 2011

VISIT OF BRITAIN'S QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Justice fo rthe Forgotten believes the extraordinary coincidence of Britain's Queen Elizabeth arriving in Ireland on the 37th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings presents her Prime Minister, David Cameron, with a golden opportunity to make a genuinely significant gesture of reconciliation. It should enable him to announce his intention to open the files and make available the documentation that was withheld from Judge Henry Barron during the course of his inquiries into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the other cross-Border bombings that were perpetrated in this jurisdiction in the 1970s.

The Dublin and Monaghan bombings, in which 34 men, women and babies were killed, caused the greatest loss of life in a single day during the entire period of the Troubles.

The British authorities not only refused to co-operate with Judge Barron but have also ignored repeated requests from former Taoisigh and especially the all-Party motion that was unanimously adopted by Dáil Éireann in July 2008, which urged them:

'to allow access by an independent, international judicial figure to all original documents held by the British Government relating to the atrocities that occurred in this jurisdiction and which were inquired into by Judge Barron, for the purposes of assessing said documents with the aim of assisting in the resolution of these crimes'.

We remember Prime Minister Cameron's words last June when he apologised for Bloody Sunday. He told the House of Commons:

'It is right to pursue the truth with vigour and thoroughness...openness and frankness about the past, however painful, do not make us weaker, they make us stronger'.

In anticipation of this momentous occasion our plea to Prime Minister Cameron is:

Pursue the truth with vigour - make us all stronger - open up the files

Note to Editors:
We will be meeting with Independent TDs in Leinster House at 9.45 am on Wednesday, 13th April and will be available for comment afterwards - at about 10.30 am.

We will be encouraging the public to attend our dignified wreath-laying ceremony on the anniversary (17th May) at the memorial in Talbot Street but no flags or banners should be displayed.

For further details please contact -

Margaret Urwin
Justice for the Forgotten
63, Lower Gardiner Street
Dublin 1

Tel : 00353 (1) 855 4300
Mobile No: 00353 (87) 2237338
Web : www.dublinmonaghanbombings.org



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