Ireland

Dublin Monaghan bomb victims' families 'deserve the truth'

A minute's silence is observed during the wreath laying ceremony to mark the 44th anniversary of the Dublin Monaghan bombings on Dublin's Talbot street. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire 
A minute's silence is observed during the wreath laying ceremony to mark the 44th anniversary of the Dublin Monaghan bombings on Dublin's Talbot street. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire  A minute's silence is observed during the wreath laying ceremony to mark the 44th anniversary of the Dublin Monaghan bombings on Dublin's Talbot street. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire 

The victims of one of the worst days of atrocities in the Troubles should be told the truth, a campaigner has said.

A wreath-laying ceremony took place at a Dublin memorial to 33 killed by loyalist bombers on Thursday and their families want the British government to release classified security files relating to deaths in which state collusion is suspected.

It marked the 44th anniversary of the blasts when paramilitaries detonated four no-warning bombs in Dublin and Monaghan on May 17, 1974.

The Justice for the Forgotten lobby group has fought a long-running campaign for an open inquiry into allegations that British security agents colluded with the terrorists to plot the co-ordinated and sophisticated attacks.

Spokeswoman Margaret Urwin said: "When people talk about justice they are often meaning prosecutions and so on.

"We have been campaigning now for 25 years, since 1993 basically.

"What the families have always asked for, demanded, is for the truth rather than prosecutions.

"I don't think they ever expect justice in that sense but what they really want to get is as much of the truth as possible."

The British government has begun consulting on measures to address Northern Ireland's conflict past, including mechanisms to reinvestigate past wrongdoing and many unresolved killings.

They were originally agreed in 2014 as part of the Stormont House Agreement involving political parties in Belfast and the British and Irish governments.

Political paralysis at Stormont delayed full implementation of the deal.

Ms Urwin added: "We hope that the mechanisms of the Stormont House Agreement will soon be established. That may also help in freeing them up a bit more to release these documents."

The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Micheal MacDonncha, the Cathaoirleach (chair) of Monaghan County Council Cathy Bennett and Minister for Justice and Equality Charles Flanagan took part in Thursday's ceremony at a memorial on Talbot Street.

A fiddler and guitarist provided music.