DUBLIN/MONAGHAN BOMBINGS TO BE RAISED IN DÁIL DURING BRITISH QUEEN’S STATE VISIT

SINN FÉIN TDs have published their Dáil motion to be debated next week during the state visit by Queen Elizabeth pressing her Government to finally acknowledge and co-operate with the all-party Dáil motion passed three years ago urging Whitehall to open its files on the Dublin/Monaghan bombings.

The motion reiterates a previous all-party motion which was passed in July 2008 and calls on the Government to press British Prime Minister David Cameron to release all files related to the bombings.

The debate takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Queen Elizabeth arrives in Dublin on the exact anniversary of the Dublin/Monaghan bombings of May 17th 1974. The attacks killed 33 people: 26 people died in Dublin city centre; six people died in Monaghan, with one injured person later dying in a Dublin hospital. Almost 300 were injured.

It was the highest number of casualties on any single day during the most recent phase of the conflict.

Speaking from Leinster House on Friday, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh said:

This motion reiterates the all-party resolution of 10th July 2008 which called on the British Government to release all files relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

It is widely believed that this attack, involving the greatest loss of life of any incident in the conflict, was carried out with the involvement of British Intelligence.

To date, no action has been taken despite the motion receiving unanimous backing from all parties and it is for this reason that we are taking the opportunity to restate that call and are urging An Taoiseach Enda Kenny to press this matter directly with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

With the Queen of England having been invited to visit the state on the anniversary of the bombings it will be rightly seen by many to be insensitive and offensive. The Government were very quick to issue the invitation which we would see as premature. However, they must now use the opportunity to speak directly to the British queen and David Cameron when he arrives on Wednesday and urge them to release the files relating to the bombings.

I am calling on all parties to once more back this important motion.

The motion reads:-

Private Members Business 17.5.11

Motion

That Dáil Éireann, recalling the motion it adopted unanimously on 10 July 2008 which

- noted “the interim and final reports of the sub-Committee of the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women’s Rights on the report of the Idependent Commission of Inquiry into the Dublin-Monaghan Bombings and the three related Barron Reports, including the Inquiry into the Bombing of Kay's Tavern, Dundalk, and commends the sub-Committee for its work”;

- urged “the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to allow access by an independent, international judicial figure to all original documents held by the British Government relating to the atrocities that occurred in this jurisdiction and which were inquired into by Judge Barron, for the purposes of assessing said documents with the aim of assisting in the resolution of these crimes";

- and directed “the Clerk of the Dáil to communicate the text of this Resolution, together with copies of the aforementioned reports, to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with a request that the matter be considered by the House of Commons”,

notes that no action has been taken on this matter by the British Government and calls directly upon the British Government to comply with the request of Dáil Éireann and mandates An Taoiseach Enda Kenny to press this matter with the British Prime Minister David Cameron.

– Gerry Adams, Michael Colreavy, Seán Crowe, Pearse Doherty, Dessie Ellis, Martin Ferris, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Mary Lou McDonald, Sandra McLellan, Jonathan O’Brien, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Brian Stanley, Peadar Tóibín.

A banner is unveiled in Parnell Square on Monday, on the eve of the visit of the British queen to Parnell Square