Remembering the Dublin and Monaghan bombings |

Monday (17 May) is the 47th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings – a series of explosions which killed, maimed and ruined so many lives.

It was the 9/11 of its day. Yet so many people failed to acknowledge what took place that late Friday afternoon and we continue to fail those who were caught up in those life changing events. That is the collective view of those victims.

A total of 34 innocent people, including a full-term unborn child, were taken from their families and loved ones. People simply going about their everyday business, unaware of the horror which was to unfold in just a handful of minutes, the effects of which are still felt by so many people almost five decades on.

The atrocity was one of the bloodiest days of the Troubles, yet the truth of what happened on that fateful day has never been fully discovered and families have been left with many unanswered questions.

While the bombings do not come under the Kenova criminal investigations, they are being examined through the Glenanne Gang review we are undertaking.

I have spoken to many of the bereaved families and those who survived those unimaginable attacks. As with so many of the incidents which happened during this tragic period in our history, people feel abandoned and failed by the system, unable to get justice for their loved ones. It has been incredibly humbling to listen to such heart-breaking stories, to hear first-hand of the remarkable bravery of bereaved families and survivors, and of their battle for the truth. This is an all too familiar and unacceptable story in legacy cases.

Those who were lost on 17th May 1974 will never be forgotten. Each soul lost, their families and those who survived are today especially in our thoughts. They deserve the truth. No more, no less.

There has been much speculation over recent weeks, and no doubt more will follow in the coming weeks and months, about the future of legacy cases in Northern Ireland and whether prosecutions on such historical matters will continue to be pursued. I have said previously that legacy should not only be judged through the prism of the criminal justice system, how many people have been put before the courts is only one legacy measure. It is well known to everyone how challenging it is to prosecute cases from so many years ago. Criminal justice is of course important and without doubt it is what some want. However, many families want something far more straightforward, without the need for lengthy court hearings and the associated processes. They just want the truth - once and for all.

A clear account of what happened to their loved ones. They want to know why and how these events happened, who was responsible, could and should the attacks have been prevented? To put their loved ones memories to rest families need the truth of what happened. That is what every family deserves.

For as long as there is uncertainty and unanswered questions, anniversaries of such awful events as the devastating attacks in Dublin and Monaghan will continue to be unbearably painful reminders of the distrust and disharmony that existed then and sadly, without answers for families, remains today.

Families and survivors must be assured that unfettered access to information is provided to those examining these cases. Such transparency and honesty is what sets democracies apart from those that committed these crimes. It is fundamental to our values as individuals, organisations, elected representatives and governments that we provide families with the truth.

Legacy remains the chapter of the Good Friday Agreement that was never written. It was too difficult then. It is now time for those difficulties to be overcome and for the Victims' Chapter to be written.

Every family who lost a loved one deserves the truth if they so choose – from devastating mass casualty incidents that attract attention largely due to the brave persistence of those joined together in their loss - to the single and hardly reported heart-breaking acts of murder whereby families feel forgotten, isolated and that access to the truth is out of their reach.

And so the 17th May is a day we remember the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan attacks and, of course, those other victims and their families suffered the unimaginable loss of a loved one during the Troubles.

There is not one day of the year where a family does not grieve – every day of the year a person was killed during the Troubles. We cannot and must not continue to fail those victims and their families.

Jon Boutcher

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