4 April 2007

PUBLICATION OF COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION (MACENTEE) REPORT INTO THE DUBLIN AND MONAGHAN BOMBINGS

Justice for the Forgotten will respond to the findings of the MacEntee Report, which the Government is due to publish at 5 pm, at a press conference in the Alexander Hotel (off Merrion Square) at 5.30 pm tomorrow, 4th April.

The MacEntee Inquiry, which was granted nine extensions, began its work on 13th May 2005 with specific Terms of Reference. These are as follows:

(1) Why the Garda investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings was wound down in 1974;
(2) Why the Gardaí did not follow up on the following leads:
(i) information that a white van, with an English registration plate, was parked outside the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in Portland Row and was later seen in the deep sea area of the B & I ferry port in Dublin, and the subsequent contact made with a British Army officer on a ferry boat leaving that port;
(ii) information relating to a man who stayed in the Four Courts Hotel between 15 and 17 May 1974 and his contacts with the UVF;

(iii) information concerning a British Army corporal allegedly sighted in Dublin at the time of the bombings;
and
(3) In relation to the missing documentation
(i) the exact documentation (Departmental, Garda intelligence and any other documentation of relevance) that is unaccounted for;
(ii) the reasons explaining why the documentation went missing;
(iii) whether the missing documentation can now be located; and
(iv) whether the systems currently in place are adequate to prevent a recurrence of such documentation going missing.

Justice for the Forgotten hopes that the MacEntee Report will answer these questions definitively.

Queries should be directed to:

Margaret Urwin, Secretary: 01-8554300/
087-2237338
Kevin O'Loughlin, Chairperson: 087-7821108
Bernadette McNally, Executive Committee: 087-7998283