Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has welcome that the Dáil has unanimously passed a motion on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings calling on the British to release all the files that it has on the no-warning bombs that killed 34 people and injured hundreds.

Deputy Crowe said:

“I believe that it is extremely important that this motion was passed unanimously by the Dáil today.

“Tuesday 17th May 2016 was the 42^nd Anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and that day I placed a motion on the Order Paper of the Dáil.

“I welcome that the Government recognised this initiative and that a similar motion was actually agreed today by all members of the Dáil.

“I am one of the Oireachtas members of the Cross Party Group on Victims of Conflict and we regularly meet with Justice For the Forgotten, who represent many victims and bereaved families of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

“Their struggle and search for truth and justice has been a long and a difficult one for the families involved and continues to be delayed by this British Government.

“It is now the third all party motion that has been passed by Dáil which calls on the British Government to release any relevant files that they hold on these bombings. I believe it is important that this 32nd Dáil agreed this pro-active approach to this issue.

“The ‘new relationship’ with Britain doesn’t appear to extend to transparency and the release of files on the Dublin Monaghan bombings.

“This is part of a pattern, as the British Government remains the singular obstacle to resolving many legacy issues, such as the public inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane, the killing of Sinn Féin Councillor Eddie Fullerton who was assassinated 25 years ago today, and the activities of the so-called ‘Glennanne gang’, who were made up of members of the UDR and RUC.

“We know that the Dublin and Monaghan bombings were carried out by loyalists and British agents with logistical and technical support from British security personnel.

“The co-ordinated no warning bombings were designed to kill and resulted in the highest amount of deaths and casualties in the conflict. No one, absolutely no one, has ever been brought to justice.

“Up to now the British Government have shown a complete lack of empathy for the victims, a complete disregard for the mandate of the Dáil and successive Irish Governments by ignoring previous All-Party motions

“This Government must actively pursue the implementation of this motion

“Every avenue must be explored and every opportunity used to promote the sentiment and spirit of today’s important motion. The Government owes that to 34 men, women and children that were killed, to the hundreds that were injured and those families bereaved by these bombings.”

ENDS