Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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5. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will outline, following the recent 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the engagements she has had with the families and survivors of the bombings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26525/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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10. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the actions she has taken to support the families and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in their campaign for justice and truth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26528/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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12. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her plans in relation to assisting the families and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in their campaign for justice and truth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26526/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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17. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if all files in possession of her Department relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings will be released to the families and survivors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26527/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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As the Minister knows, we have just passed the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, where 34 people were murdered and 258 injured in an atrocious bombing carried out by loyalists, almost certainly with the collusion of the British state or elements of it. Families and victims are still fighting for justice. The question is about the Government and the State's responsibility to assist and co-operate with them to get the truth and justice they have been campaigning for these past 50 years. What has the Government done since we met in this House a few weeks ago to discuss the tragedy?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 5, 10, 12 and 17 together.

As the Deputy correctly pointed out, last month marked the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974. It is deeply regrettable that to date no person has been held responsible for what were absolutely barbaric attacks that killed 34 people, injured 258 and impacted many more lives. The Garda investigation files into these bombings and the murders that took place remain open. It is still an ongoing file. Any new evidence that comes to light, has come to light or may come to light, from whatever source, will be pursued by An Garda Síochána.

On engagement with the families and survivors, on 17 May senior Government representatives joined the families of the victims and survivors at commemorative events. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, attended, as did other colleagues. Every year, Government representatives attend these commemorations, reflecting the ongoing commitment of the Government to the victims and survivors. State level engagement by officials also takes place on a regular basis. Officials meet and engage with the families of the victims and survivors and their representative group, Justice for the Forgotten. State funding is provided to Justice for the Forgotten under the reconciliation fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs. As the Deputy knows, it is an organisation that supports families affected by the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and this support has been key in enabling the families to pursue their campaign for justice and truth.

In terms of others supports to the families and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in their campaign for justice and truth, there are many instances where records related to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings have been made available and Department of Justice and Garda records were released to the Barron and MacEntee inquiries. More recently, I have implemented bespoke measures to enable An Garda Síochána to provide access to relevant information relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. This is for Operation Denton as part of the ongoing independent UK Kenova review. Operation Denton is an analytical review by the Kenova investigation team into the activities of a particular group of individuals known as the Glenanne gang in Northern Ireland. As an analytical review being carried out in another jurisdiction, rather than a formal criminal investigation, there was no legal basis upon which Garda assistance could be provided. This created at the time a legal obstacle to delivering on the strong desire on the part of An Garda Síochána, the Government and me to co-operate with Operation Denton to the maximum extent possible. To unblock this it was necessary to create a dedicated co-operation mechanism. In the summer of 2022, I signed a directive under section 25(1) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 directing the identification and preparation for release of relevant material to Operation Denton. Subsequently, in order to facilitate the transfer of information to Operation Denton, I signed the necessary data protection regulations. This assistance has been acknowledged, most recently by Sir Iain Livingstone, the head of the Kenova review, who referenced the high level of co-operation being received from An Garda Síochána and the ongoing support of the Government.

I assure the Deputy of my continuing commitment to supporting An Garda Síochána in pursuing this work and in providing the greatest assistance possible. An Garda Síochána continues to engage with Operation Denton, and anything that emerges from that review will be considered in the context of its open investigations. I again call on any person who has any information, no matter how small he or she thinks it might be, relating to the bombings to make contact with An Garda Síochána.

Finally, a core part of supporting the families is through the implementation of the all-party Dáil motions that call on the British Government to allow access by an independent, international judicial figure to all relevant documents relating to a series of bombings, including the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. This remains a priority, and again I assure the Deputy that the Government continues to raise this regularly with the British Government, most recently at the BIIGC, which took place last April. These are meetings the Tánaiste and I attend with our UK counterparts and they give us an opportunity to discuss many issues but in particular to discuss individual legacy cases with the UK Government.

We are absolutely committed to seeking out the truth behind these absolutely appalling events and to securing some measure - and I stress "some" - of comfort for the victims' families and the survivors.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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There is no doubt the British Government has a lot of questions to answer, and I think most people believe it does not want to answer them because of the extent of British state collusion with the people who carried out the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and, indeed, other massacres carried out by the Glenanne gang.

The Irish Government, however, has very serious questions to answer as well. The investigations into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the greatest single atrocity in the Troubles, were closed down after ten weeks. What is the explanation for that? Where are the files relating to the decision to do that? As regards the Sackville Place bombings of 1972 and 1973, also carried out by the Glenanne gang, the investigation closed down after seven weeks. Among a series of questions I submitted to the Minister recently on foot of requests from survivors and families, I asked why the families, from 1993, when they put up a memorial to their loved ones in the Garden of Remembrance, were put under Garda surveillance and then kept under Garda surveillance for years. I asked where the files as to who ordered that are. Was it the Government? Was it the Garda? Where are the files in respect of the monitoring of the families of the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings? In the answer I got from her, basically, she said that is an operational matter for the Garda. Is she serious? If the Government is serious about getting to the truth and getting justice for the families and victims of this awful atrocity, is it seriously suggesting that that is an acceptable answer to the question as to why the families of the victims were put under Garda surveillance when they started to campaign for truth and justice?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that this has been for a long time extremely difficult for the families. In many of the Deputy's questions he has sought information as to why no Garda files relating to this case at all can be given to the families. This is an open case. This is still an open file. This is information the Garda has relating to an ongoing case. Irrespective of whether it is something as significant, large-scale and devastating as this or an individual case relating to one or two people, if there is an open file, if there is an ongoing investigation, if gardaí have information relating to that, it can never be released and will never be provided to the families. Information has been provided to the Barron and the McEntee inquiries. Those inquiries took place and that information was provided on that sound legal basis. There is also information within my Department, but there is archives legislation which sets out when, how and where information can be provided and, obviously, the law will be adhered to in that regard. I appreciate the difficulty this puts on the families, but the Garda has not said this is a closed case. It is actively seeking information to see if anything further can be done here. It is actively engaging with operations Kenova and Denton. It is actively seeking the truth to try to find the truth and answers for the families because, as I said at the outset, it is beyond regrettable that nobody has been held responsible for these atrocities.

As a Government, we will do everything we can to continue to work with the Garda and our UK counterparts and, above all, to continue to work with the families to try to find answers and to hold somebody responsible for these atrocities.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That sounds like the families will never be given the files, will never be given an explanation and will never get the truth and justice they deserve. It is shocking beyond belief that the families and survivors of this atrocity were put under Garda surveillance. They are entitled to know who ordered that, what files were generated on foot of that and why it was done. The original investigation was closed down after ten weeks. There have to be files relating to these things, but everything is lost, cannot be found or cannot be provided to the families or the legal representatives of the families and the victims. If, as we know, Britain does not want to release this stuff because of the implications of exposing British state collusion in these atrocities, it stinks to high heaven that the Irish State is not being open and transparent about the information that is available and about decisions the Garda took, the failure to investigate and the failure to interview families and victims until Boucher knocked on their doors 40 or 45 years later. This is shocking stuff. It stinks to high heaven. What the Minister is really saying is that we will never know the truth until the Garda decides to disclose the information, and it will probably never disclose the information because there are very serious questions to be answered.

It really is not good enough, and the Government has to do something here. Ultimately, the Garda is answerable to the Department of Justice and to the Government.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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What has been made very clear is that the Garda is engaging. In fact, as regards the structures that needed to be put in place to allow the Garda to provide information where it could not with the ongoing investigation, those measures were implemented and changed in order that gardaí could provide the information they have. It has been made very clear to me that the information is being provided, that they are co-operating and that they want to engage and want to undercover the truth here, just like all of us. I appreciate from the point of view of the families the disappointment at not being able to access certain information. However, when there is a file that is open and ongoing, irrespective of the case, the number of people involved or when it happened, information that might prejudice an ongoing case cannot be provided. We need to make sure we continue to do everything we can to uncover the truth here, and that is exactly what this Government has done over many years. Again, I cannot stress how regrettable it is that nobody has been held accountable, but we must continue to work in whatever way we can to try to change that.