19 February 2004 Edition

Resize: A A A Print

Dublin Government must demand the truth - The 12th annual Joe MacManus/Kevin Coen lecture

Pearse Doherty

Pearse Doherty

Sinn Féin EU candidate for the Northwest, Pearse Doherty, delivering the 12th annual Joe MacManus/Kevin Coen Lecture at the weekend, slammed the decision of British Secretary of State Paul Murphy to once again refuse to provide answers in relation to the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. He said it was time that the Dublin Government stood up to the securocrats in the British system and demanded the truth.

"The British politicians who sanctioned the policy of collusion have never been held accountable," he said. "And just as culpulable are those in this state who have consistently put their own narrow self-interest above the national interest, the rights of Irish citizens living in the North and the Peace Process.

"These are the same people who colluded in the cover-up of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, who censored republicans, who unleashed the heavy gang on defenceless prisoners, who supported British repression and encouraged unionist intransigence. These are the people who abandoned the nationalist of the North to decades of repression and colluded in Britain's war against Irish citizens.

"Now they lecture us on the morality of resistance from the comfort and security of their mansions, paid for from brown bag corruption. The Ireland these people have created, the inequality, bigotry and selfishness is not what was envisaged in the 1916 Proclamation.

"If the peace process is to be successful, the British policy of collusion and its structures must be disowned and dismantled and there must be full disclosure of the truth about Britain's war in Ireland."


An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland