Post by Taxigirl on Dec 10, 2003 10:28:11 GMT
Thirty-three people died on the Troubles' bloodiest day
A long-awaited report on the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings which killed 33 people is to be published on Wednesday.
The Barron report examines allegations of collusion between British security services and loyalist paramilitaries in the bombings.
No-one has ever been convicted of carrying out the two car bomb attacks on 17 May 1974, which injured more than 250.
It was the biggest loss of life on a single day in the Troubles. One of the dead was a pregnant woman.
Twenty-six people were killed in Dublin, and 90 minutes later seven died in a bombing in the town of Monaghan.
Collusion claims
The inquiry was set up in Dublin three years ago and was initially expected to be published last year.
Mr Justice Henry Barron's report was handed to the Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in October this year.
The report - thought to run to more than 350 pages - will first be presented to the Irish Government's joint committee on justice.
It is expected to be made public at about 1700 GMT on Wednesday.
The solicitor for the bereaved families, Greg O'Neill, said he hoped the report would be thorough.
"The judge and his commission have been operating for close on four years now," he said.
"We expect there will be a thorough examination of the material that the judges had access to in terms of interviewing witnesses and files.
"I have no idea about the content of the report, but I know what he has had to cover.
"I have been led to believe that where he has found evidence he has drawn conclusions which appear to be quite stark."
Mr O'Neill said the allegations of British intelligence collusion was "only one aspect" of the commission's investigation.
"There are other aspects - and that is the whole question of what happened to the Garda investigation."
'Questions raised'
BBC Ireland correspondent Kevin Connolly said the families were likely to demand a full public inquiry, on the lines of the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday.
Ten years ago, the Ulster Volunteer Force admitted it was responsible for the bombings.
Many of the grieving relatives believe the UVF was helped by British intelligence service operatives aiming to warn the Irish Government not to interfere in Northern Ireland's affairs.
There will also be questions raised about whether the Irish security services did enough to find those responsible.
The report was expected to examine collusion claims and criticism of the investigation by country's police force, the Garda Siochana.
The bombings took place while Protestant workers held a general strike in Northern Ireland to bring down the power-sharing government set up under the Sunningdale Agreement.