1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings: The outstanding questions after 50 years

I was in Dublin on Friday, for the 50th anniversary of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles. Twenty-six people and an unborn baby were killed when three car bombs exploded in Central Dublin at 5.30 pm on 17 May 1974. Seven more died 90 minutes later when another bomb went off in Monaghan Town.

At the commemoration organised by Justice for the Forgotten, Irish President Michael D. Higgins said that both the British and Irish governments had manifestly failed to initiate suitable responses in the aftermath of the attacks, leaving a legacy ‘that cannot be left unaddressed.’

The report compiled by the late Judge Henry Barron, published 10th December 2003, provided some of the answers, pointing as it did to systemic failures at State level, one that included possible collusion between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries, the disappearance of important forensic evidence and files, the slow-motion conduct of the investigation, a reluctance to make original documents available, and the refusal to supply other information on security grounds.¹ 

One remaining question is to what extent that collusion had an intelligence dimension. That collusion occurred is now, it seems, widely acknowledged.

‘We know that to be true’, former Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone told Irish broadcaster RTE last week.

It’s well established that people who worked for the State - police officers, members of the UDR - had previously been involved in some of these despicable, sectarian attacks that were carried out primarily by loyalist paramilitaries.

Whether there were individuals within that who were also agents and in terms of informants - that’s something that our review will consider, we’ll make an assessment around that, and we will report on that because it’s a matter of legitimate public interest.²

Sir Iain heads Operation Denton, a British police investigation into the Glennane Gang, a loyalist grouping whose activities during the Troubles have been extensively documented by the Pat Finucane Centre (PFC), notably in Anne Cadwallader’s Lethal Allies.

The PFC’s investigation made extensive use of official and open sources as well as a number of key whistle-blowers, Among the latter was Colin Wallace, a former senior information officer at the British Army’s HQ Northern Ireland, and an officer in the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

Wallace said last week that he believes the explosives used in the bombings were originally manufactured by the IRA, the bitter enemies of the loyalists who carried out the attacks.

And therefore how did they acquire that? Either they managed to get some captured IRA material or some of (the material) that was captured was given back to the loyalists.³

Several Operation Denton officers were present at Friday’s commemoration. So too was Jon Boucher, who headed Denton and the related Operation Kenova until he stepped down last year to take over as Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Given the involvement of police officers in the Glennane Gang, this transition appeared to some as a conflict of interest.

There are other causes for scepticism about the prospects for Operation Denton. The investigation is intended to demonstrate compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), an agreement to which Britain’s current Conservative Government is increasingly hostile.

In his address, President Higgins criticised the approach to truth recovery reflected in the UK Legacy Act 2023.

The enactment of that unilaterally sourced legislation has resulted in families who have spent decades fighting for an effective investigation into their cases of not only facing further uncertainty and delays but of the deprivation of legal rights. For example, 38 legacy inquests covering the deaths of more than 70 people are now suspended as a result of the Troubles legislation. Victims’ families have been further denied dignity, respect and the basic information which may be available as to who was responsible.

Britain’s domestic courts are still applying the ECHR, and the Conservative administration probably do not have enough political capital left for a legislative over-ride. By the time Operation Denton reports a more conciliatory Labour Government may be in place. Nevertheless, after half a century of waiting, the survivors of the bombings and the relatives of the victims will take some convincing that the truth is around the corner.

1. Speech at the Commemorative Event Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings, President of Ireland, 17 May 2024.

2. Vincent Kearney, Dublin-Monaghan bomb gang investigator says 'there was collusion', RTE News, 17 May 2024.

3. John Breslin, Explosive material used in Dublin/Monaghan bombings acquired by loyalists from IRA stores: intelligence agent, Irish News, 13 May 2024. Wallace is arguably one of the most important whistle-blowers ever to have emerged from the British state. His story is chronicled Paul Foot’s classic Who Framed Collin Wallace? (Pan Books, 1990).