Why is McGurk’s Bar bombing British Army HQ file being kept secret for 85 years?

A RESEARCHER whose grandmother was killed in the 1971 McGurk’s Bar bombing by the unionist Ulster Volunteer Force but blamed on the IRA wants to know why an important British Army file is being kept secret until January 2056 – 85 years after the event!

Ciarán Mac Airt’s grandmother, Kitty Irvine, was one of 15 people killed in the attack in north Belfast.

Mac Airt, author of The McGurk’s Bar Bombing: Collusion, Cover-Up and a Campaign for Truth, has made a Freedom of Information request for a British Army HQ file that could reveal vital information about what the Royal Ulster Constabulary actually knew about the bombing and who was really responsible despite claims by the RUC, the British Army, and unionist and Westminster politicians.

But Mac Airt has been told that the file will be kept hidden from the public until 1 January 2056 for “health and safety” reasons and “personal information where the applicant is a 3rd party”.

In his quest to gain access to this and other documents about the McGurk’s bombing, the investigator will be quizzed at an independent tribunal hearing in London next month.

A clearly frustrated Mac Airt said:

“I will be being grilled for two days – which is longer than suspects in the actual bombing were questioned for.

“I’ll be being asked questions on a file which I haven’t read but that everyone else in the court has.

“It is not justifiable that, 45 years later, we can’t get this information. It is less to do with national security and more to do with national shame.

“The British Army and police knew full well that the bar had been attacked and that it wasn’t down to the people in the bar.

“They are not banking on children and grandchildren of relatives following things up.”