Chairperson's address on the occasion of the 36th Anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings

Lord Mayor, Cathaoirleach, Victims’ Commissioner, Fr. Clowe, friends:
We are gathered here today to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, remembering the 34 men, women and babies who were so brutally murdered on these streets and in the town of Monaghan.

As part of its services to victims, Justice for the Forgotten has been organising these commemorative events for many years on behalf of the bereaved families and the injured survivors.

Justice for the Forgotten began its existence as a supportive organisation for the Dublin and Monaghan families alone. However, over the past decade it greatly expanded its role to include all those affected by the cross-Border bombings of the 1970s – the Dublin bombings of 1972 and 1973, Belturbet, Dublin Airport, Dundalk and Castleblayney as well as the Miami Showband. We also represent a number of individual families who lost loved ones north of the border but whose families now reside in this jurisdiction. In fact, our services are available to anyone who was affected by the Northern conflict, irrespective of religious or political affiliation. We are unique in being the only organisation in the Republic of Ireland that provides these services.

We have a considerable amount of work still to do in our role of supporting and representing families, particularly in the area of truth recovery. We are in continual engagement with the Historical Enquiries Team in Northern Ireland and new information is slowly emerging regarding those who, we believe, were the perpetrators of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. We are hopeful that the Legacy Commission recommended by Eames/Bradley will be established in the near future and, if that comes to pass, Justice for the Forgotten will have a crucial role to play in representing and supporting victims from this jurisdiction in their search for truth recovery.

Due to the country’s economic woes, human rights organisations and other NGOs have seen their funding slashed. Justice for the Forgotten’s funding has not just been slashed – it has been withdrawn 100%, which means that we face a very uncertain future. There are many organisations in Northern Ireland who support victims of the Troubles and there is no question but that they will continue to be funded adequately for the foreseeable future. We are being discriminated against simply because of our location.

When the issue of funding our organisation is raised with the Government they make great play of the fact that they have supported us over the past decade. While we are very appreciative of the money that was provided, we must point out that we were merely doing the work that should have been undertaken by successive Governments since 17th May 1974. Instead, they chose to neglect their responsibilities and abandoned the families and survivors. Justice for the Forgotten was left to pick up the pieces. The former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice in January 2005 [and I quote]:

‘The victims of these bombings were effectively left on their own to campaign. They got virtually no recognition…essentially they were outsiders banging on the door to get public attention…I accept that it took a sea change in political and social attitudes for society and the political establishment to face up to their responsibilities to those who had been badly treated in the aftermath of the serious suffering inflicted on them.’ [Unquote]

Having belatedly recognised their responsibilities, it would appear that history is about to be repeated and the victims are to be abandoned once again.

While the Government, and particularly the Department of Foreign Affairs, makes great utterances about victims north of the border, their actions south of the border speak louder than words.

It is obvious that our Government is failing to honour its obligations, which they signed up to in the Good Friday Agreement. The Agreement states that it is essential to acknowledge and address the suffering of the victims of violence as a necessary element of reconciliation. The previous Government can be commended for establishing the Remembrance Commission, which undoubtedly went some way towards acknowledging and addressing the suffering of victims on a one-off basis.

However, the needs of victims cannot be neatly disposed of by one-off payments alone. The Good Friday Agreement also states that the provision of services that are supportive and sensitive to the needs of victims will be a critical element and that support will need to be channelled through both statutory and community-based organisations. This, we believe, highlights where the Irish Government is failing in its obligations. It is widely recognised that the central part of any peace settlement is dealing with issues of importance to victims.

We are very grateful to both Monaghan Town Council and Monaghan County Council for their initiative in the passing of unanimous motions calling on the Government to restore our funding. We would hope that, perhaps, Dublin City Council might follow suit.

We earnestly call on our Government here today to restore our funding and to recognise that the suffering of those affected by the Troubles is the same regardless of whether their loved ones were killed north or south of the Border.

For further information please contact:

Margaret Urwin, Justice for the Forgotten:

01 8554300 / 087 2237338