@TheJeff: Say that to the families of those blown to bits.

@TheJeff: Classy, Jeff. The neighboiring state was involved in the largest mass murder in Ireland since partition, north or south and your response is “who cares”. Vile.

@TheJeff: “who cares” certainly not the Irish government or the media, some Irish media outlets didn’t even bother to cover the remembrance of the bombings this year or the huge story concerning the fact that security personnel and soldiers won’t be prosecuted for crimes committed during the war, they are effectively getting away with murder.
It’s also no wonder that some in the Irish and British governments don’t want to see a truth commission set up, they risk their involvement in the bombings and other atrocities being made public.

@Mr Phil Officer: because the brits still control the south . Media and education, so why would they report it ?

@Brian O Reilly: I agree but the British government will never come clean on this. Bad enough that a western nation was actively engaged in bombing the capital city of its nearest neighbour 45 years ago but can you imagine what the international view of Britain would be if this was to come out today in the era of international terrorism. The British can simply never ever admit this. It would place them in the same league of terrorist states that they have branded Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and North Korea.

@Larry Doherty: well Irish citizens were involved in bombing London, Birmingham and other UK cities which was not nice. That said the FG/Labour govt made a mistake imo in not having a proper investigation into the Dub+Monaghan bombings. Did it give the wrong message out?

@hallelujah: this was a government behind the Dublin/Monaghan bombings not a few individuals. Sanctioned at the highest level. Policy. What else do you want. to call it?

@Larry Doherty: Coming clean on who did what on either side will not turn back the clock on mistakes made at government levels for having the situation in northern Ireland develop into a war andneither will it bring back the sons and husbands who were murdered in cold blood.
The reason I say this is because the war was not sanctioned by the people, it was a war against the people by both soldiers and paramillitary groupings. Unlike WW2 which was a war between nations and citizens were left afterwards to accept what happened and rebuild their lives andhomes.
Ireland is now at peace and must accept what happened and move on having learned from the mistakes of the past.

@Chris Kirk: Hi Chris. I agree with the sentiment you express and also believe that in all wars there will be no full disclosures or justice for any victims. History will move on and relatives will die off. I would also say that throughout history no war was ever sanctioned by the people whether World Wars, our own War of Independence, the war in Afghanistan or Iraq, etc. However, the recent war in Ireland has not ended as far as the British, the Unionists and elements of the Free-state are concerned. Not a week passes where they don”t go back to past actions of the IRA and victims on their side while expecting Irish nationalists to just roll over and shut up.

@TheJeff:
Have you ever had a friend or family member murdered in a bomb attack

@Brian O Reilly: It would be nice if they did but they don’t have to come clean. They will delay and Irish governments and civil servants will not push them too hard because no doubt the Irish government turned a blind eye, or colluded, in republican atrocities and/or the purchase of bomb making equipment and guns.
It was a proxy war and no one ever comes out of a war with their reputations intact.
Let it go.

@TheJeff: Tell that to families of victims who have been ignored by successive Free State Govt’s

@Brian O’Loughlin: So you are quite happy to sweep the whole thing under the carpet then are you? A foreign power uses it’s agents to directly attack the citizens of our sovereign State in what amounts to a de facto act of war but because SF is pushing for the truth you just want to ignore it.

The historical investigations that are carried out look at cases from all sides of the conflict both republican and loyalist. The problem for the British is that they were up to their eyeballs in collusion with loyalist murder gangs who carried out proxy assassinations for the British government and their are a lot of people still in positions of power who don’t want that dragged up. I dare say that there are quite a few south of the border who feel the same way.

@Brian Ward: Sinn Fein only pushes for the truth in crimes they want answers for . Everything done by SF/IRA is to be ignored and swept under the carpet .

@Gordon Hughes: Why is it then that SF having been pushing for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (like in South Africa) for years but it had been roundly rejected by nearly everyone? This Commission would look at actions carried out by ALL sides but funnily enough the British government doesn’t want it’s dirty laundry aired.

In calling for such a Commission how can SF be accused of trying to sweep things under the carpet seeing as the actions of republicans would be open for all to see?

@Brian O’Loughlin: my father was nearly killed in that atrocity on his way home that day via Connolly Station. I’d like to know when our government will convince Britain to be completely honest about what happened that day. It’s nothing to do with Sinn Fein. It’s about cold blooded murder with the suspicion of state involvement.

Yes they did it’s an undisputed historical fact @Brian O’Loughlin. Justice cannot be selective, anyone involved in Murder should face the consequences regardless of who they are. But the reality is the British will never allow anything other than selective justice which means this high court ruling won’t lead to anyone IRA, UDF or UDF or SAS facing justice because some of those involved in the killings where too close to the British government.

@Brian O’Loughlin: @Gordon Hughes:

Lads for one thing, SF do not wish to sweep the past under the carpet. It’s a spectacularly illinformed argument. One of the main stumbling blocks to the talks on tbe past two assembly collapses has been SFs position on the past with the British Government. SF are pushing for a form of truth commission while Britain is hiding behind bogus ‘national security’ excuses. Why would SF hide? Republicans for the most part have done the time (over 25,000 republocans have spent over a cumulative 100,000 years in jails. Care to compare that to the number of stage forces locked up? Over half of known members of the Glenanne Gang were serving members of the RUC and British Army. If amything, shouldn’t state forces be held to a higer standard than paramilitaries?

@Brian O’Loughlin: give it up, afraid to condemn the Brits and the damage they done to our country and what a country it would have been without them , there certainly would have been IRA

@Brian O’Loughlin: Exactly the comment I was expecting when I scrolled down, There is a difference between one side fighting against oppression and one side beem a long time oppresor, A country who oppresses should never be forgiving until its accountable for all the wrong doings it has laid on the hands of the oppressed!!

@Brian O’Loughlin: the shinners have always called for a truth and reconciliation commission, those that operated death squads are recalcitrant. Aided and abetted by Irish quislings

@Brian O’Loughlin:

Do you think Fianna Fail and Fianna Gael came from nothing? A large amount of political parties come from military backgrounds. It’s how people attempt to move on from conflict in a peaceful manner.

@mickmc: The Barron Report criticised the Garda investigation into the bombings, and the reaction of the Fine Gael/Labour government of the time. The Report said that the Garda investigation failed to make full use of the information it had. Barron said that Department of Justice files on the Dublin bombings were “missing in their entirety” and that the Department did not give any records to the Inquiry. The Report concluded that the Garda investigation team stopped their work before they should have. The specially-appointed investigation team was disbanded in July 1974, only two months after the bombings.
Barron’s report noted that the Fine Gael/Labour government of the time “showed little interest in the bombings” and did not do enough to help the investigation. It failed to put political pressure on the British government to secure better co-operation from the RUC. It was also alleged that the Fine Gael/Labour government caused or allowed the Garda investigation to end prematurely, for fear that the findings would play into the hands of republicans. What treachery!

@Brian O’Loughlin: Yes Briam but if you check out the numbers of Republicans who served sentences for their actions in the North and compare it to the numbers who served sentences for state or state sponsored actions you will notice a big big difference.

@Irish Cottage Rental: good points

@Larry Doherty: @Larry Doherty: Gardai at the highest level where on the MI5 payroll and where passing information and taking orders from them. So don’t be too hard on the Irish government of the day, they had their problems, but it’s very hard when your Police force is controlled by a foreign power and working against you. Those Senior Gardai are the real traitors may they rot in hell.

@Tommy Whelan: So it was the doctors fault that so many people died and not the bombs that went off!!!!!

This has to be the front runner for stupidest comment of the year!

@Tommy Whelan: It was the biggest loss of life because loyalist aided and directed by british state agents exploded four no-warning bombs in packed civilian areas. Stop your weasel words.

@Tír Eoghain Gael: it was the biggest lost of life because you where far more likely to survive a terrorist attack in the north then south of the border . 24 bombs went off in Belfast city centre on Bloody Friday resulting in 9 people dying . It was a combination of the security forces and emergency services that was experience in dealing with the aftermath of terrorism that resulted in the low numbers of dead .

@Tommy Whelan: no it was the fooking warning the IRA gave and the time to clear people

@Tír Eoghain Gael: it wasn’t a rotten republic in the late sixties when the republic was funding , epuiping and training terrorist . Funds where transferred through bank accounts into terrorist hands . 500 FNs where moved across the border . A blind eye was turn to terrorist training camps in Donegal . The republic play a role in the creation of PIRA and the mass murder of people in the north . It became a safe haven for terrorists that launch 100s of attacks against the security forces then escape back across the border . Do you really believe that people where not going to hit back .

@Tommy Whelan:
“it was the biggest lost of life because you where far more likely to survive a terrorist attack in the north then south of the border . 24 bombs went off in Belfast city centre on Bloody Friday resulting in 9 people dying”

Such utter codswallop. Most of the bombs on Bloody Friday were targeted at transport infrastructures an were preceded by 30 minute warnings. The intention was not to kill civilians. The Dublin/Monaghan bombings were the largest loss of life because 4 massive bombs were planted with no warning in crowded areas in an attempt to kill as many civilians as possible. Stop trying to make excuses and trying to blame the medical response for the amount of deaths.

@Tommy Whelan: more myths. I wonder where all these FN rifles ended up as records show that it was certainly not a rifle used by republicans. However, I do remember a lot of FN /SLR rifles in the hands of British soldiers and UDR. Surely the Irish government was n’t colluding with the Brits???

@Larry Doherty: serious one of the documentary PROVOs . How the provos came about . Words straight out of the mouths of ex PIRA , politicians and military .

@Tommy Whelan: I agree that it is easy for us to judge the actions of Cosgrave govt 40 years on. That said, the roots of this go back to Nelson’s pillar in 1966. FF and FG should have taken down the statue of Nelson, and gave it back to UK. That is what the people wanted. They did’nt. And the “hardmen” took over. Up North the UVF said Nelson’s bombing showed the ‘RA were back in business and the shooting started again. Unfortunately.

@hallelujah: With respect, the blowing up of Nelsons Column was nothing to do with how the troubles began. The conflict began because some uppity Catholics got above their station and started demanding equality, and their demands were met with violence from the state forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

@Tommy Whelan: are you serious. Amadan

@Tommy Whelan: ” do you really believe that people are not going to hit back”. Quite the statement when we consider that it is a matter of record that the first murders on record were carried out by loyalist, the first violence was carried out on peaceful protestors on Duke street Derry and Burntollet by state forces in conjunction with ‘ loyal orders’ etc. The first bombings carried out by UVF.

@M Bowe: who cares who kill who first . It’s irrelevant .

@Tír Eoghain Gael: the troubles began because the the Brits deploy troops to nationalist estates to protect Catholics against loyalist attacks This gave the Ira the green light to start its terror campaign to bring about a UI . Nationalists complained the Brits where doing nothing to protect them from loyalist attacks then spent the next 26 yrs complaining they where being occupied .

@Tommy Whelan: So the IRA started the troubles?!

@Tír Eoghain Gael: they didn’t just start the troubles They kept the momentum going for 26 yrs till they gave up . Only then did normality return to NI .

@Tommy Whelan: Deluded.

@Tommy Whelan: So they did start the troubles? Care to explain that logic given that:

The first british soldier killed (Hugh McCabe in 1969) was killed by the RUC.

The first RUC officer to be killed (Constable William Arbuckle) was killed by loyalists.

The first sectarian killings (of John Scullion and Peter Ward) were carried out by the UVF

The first bombings (in 1969) were carried out by loyalists

The first of almost a thousand state killings (of Sammy Devenney, in front of his family; and of nine-year-old Patrick Rooney) were carried out by the RUC.

@Tír Eoghain Gael: it’s irrelevant who kill who first . PIRA set out on a campaign of terrorism in 69 to bring about a UI .

@Tommy Whelan: So in a debate about who started the conflict, it’s “irrelevant who killed who first”. Another pearl of wisdom form you there, Tommy. Keep them coming.

(By the way, in the earliest days of the IRA re-emergence, they existed purely to protect nationalist enclaves in Belfast and were not even remotely on an offensive footing to bring about a United Ireland. The violence that was directed at the Nationalist community by the state and loyalists, in fact let to graffiti in nationalists areas with the slogan, ‘IRA: I Ran Away’. Weird that this was popping up all over nationalist areas since according to you, the IRA started the whole thing, eh?!

Don’t believe me? Well saying as you earlier used the ‘provos’ documentary from Peter Taylor, he’s another quote from Peter Taylor in that programme speaking about how when loyalist mobs were attacking Catholic areas in the early days of the troubles: “The IRA, who’s traditional role was to defend such areas, was nowhere to be seen”.

@Larry Doherty: never ever heard of an fn being found in the 5/6 counties,and having lived there for. ,20 years,you would think one would have turned up

@Tír Eoghain Gael: I have sympathy for the Nationalists in the North, they were sold out imo by the Dublin and London governments. That said, in 1950′s Ireland/Dublin a lot of jobs were still Protestant only eg Guinness, Bank of Ireland. This began to change in the 60′s with JFK visit among others. The Pillar was a symbol of Unionist and Protestant supremacy and unfortunately the FF govt failed to tackle this- and the “hardmen” took over.

@Tommy Whelan: Unfortunately they had to “bomb” their way to the peace talks. The docklands bomb brought the British govt back to the peace talks in 1996. A bit like the US bombing of Hanoi in December ’73 brought the US Pows back to America from North Vietnam.

@hallelujah: no they didn’t bomb their way to peace talks they where brought to their knees by the security forces . http://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-intel-boss-blair-airbrushed-northern-ireland-peace-process?source=facebook&via=desktop

@Tommy Whelan: Would that be the same ‘security’ forces who themselves admitted having failed to defeat the IRA?

@AR Devine: “Yes, British state forces on occasion acted outside the law”.
“On occasion”? The British secrity forces are suspected of direct or indirect involvement in one third of the troubles deaths, but those approximately 1,000 deaths in your mind were just “occasional” lapses in discipline? Go crawl back under your rock you absolute lowlife.

@Tír Eoghain Gael: Your usual rant to try to prove a point. The only “evidence” seems to be what you read in a book. Your constant insults to other contributors shows the lack of detail that you cover up. You are a “good republican”.

@Powerabbey: “The only “evidence” seems to be what you read in a book.”

A book which simply relayed the evidence of the PSNI Historical Enquiries Team. Did you overlook that bit? Weird that.

@Tír Eoghain Gael: The book did far more than that. It insinuated “facts” rather than produced evidence. It is at best weak journalism. Read it again!!

@Powerabbey:
“It insinuated “facts” rather than produced evidence”

Me thinks you haven’t read the book. Or read my previous two posts. Lethal Allies REPRODUCED the EVIDENCE from THE PSNI’S HISTORICAL ENQUIRIES TEAM.

Try reading that nice and slowly this time, you absolute dope.

@Tír Eoghain Gael: I’m afraid that reading isn’t your strong point. Go and read the book in detail. She extracts sections to support her bias. Unlike you I don’t stoop to name calling to make my point. Try to behave like you have some level of intelligence – or is that outside of the capability of SF/IRA members.

@Tír Eoghain Gael: The other three thousand were carried out by good republicans like yourself who saw no difference between man woman or child which puts them on a par with those who carried out the Dublin / Monaghan bombings

@Powerabbey:

“Go and read the book in detail. She extracts sections to support her bias”
Bias? Cop yourself on. You asked where the evidence came from that those I names were involved in the bombings. I explained that the evidence was from the PSNI’s Historical Investigations Unit, ffs. I suppose they are just biased closet republicans, yeah? What sort of a clown are you.

@Paul Murphy: “The other three thousand were carried out by good republicans like yourself”

Nice attempt to link me to thousands of murders. Classy stuff.

Almost as classy as your implication that of the 3,500 killed, that 3,000 were killed by republicans. Quite the jaw dropping bit of revisionism indeed. I suppose the approximately 1,000 victims where British state collusion is suspected, didn’t actually even happen, no?

@Pat Price: Brits still at it

@Tír Eoghain Gael: Good man .. Your usual tactic is to insult when you have no substance in you comments. Be a good boy and go and read the book. Then you might understand.

@Powerabbey: No substance? So you ask where the evidence is to back up my claim and when I tell you it came from the PSNI’s own Historical Investivations Unit, you tell me that has no substance? Again, you are some clown.

@Tommy Whelan: Typically, in a story about the British army’s collusion in the murder of 33 innocent people in Dublin and Monaghan, you only want to talk about the IRA. Take your whataboutery, and your excuses, and you blaming of the medical personnel in Dublin/Monaghan for the number of deaths, and clear off back to your wee British army regiment, you excuse for an Irishman. Haven;t you got innocent civilians in Iraq or Afghanistan to be blowing to bits, or have you retired from service and now spend your days down the legion reminiscing about all the schools and hospitals your brave boys obliterated?

@Tír Eoghain Gael: your an expert on Iraq and Afghanistan as well .

@Tír Eoghain Gael: the members of that infamous and treacherous Fine Gael – Labour Coalition government, should be named and shamed in Irish history for ever as traitors to their own people – Liam Cosgrave, Brendan Corish, Patrick Cooney, Paddy Donegan, Conor Cruise O’Brien, Garret Fitzgerald. Thankfully, most have passed on but Cosgrave is still on a pension paid for by the Irish people he betrayed, 40 years after he retired.

@Larry Doherty: Indeed, but are they any worse than the corrupt FGers of today who continue the cover up?

@Tír Eoghain Gael: Agree. Here is a good article on the current Free-state.

http://www.judecollins.com/2017/08/mcdowells-democracy-joe-mcveigh/

@Larry Doherty: These “Irish people” they ‘betrayed’ voted en masse for these politicians to represent them time & time again & partially because they all opposed IRA terror. Militant republicanisn when it was killing people had a minority of support on this island. Most people be they unionist or nationalist opposed it. Republicans love speaking on behalf of the people when the majority of the people dont agree with them.

@AR Devine:
“partially because they all opposed IRA terror”
They also turned their back and tolerated British state/loyalist terror. You being a perfect example. Such a mentality was the reason why FG covered up the Dublin/Monaghan bombing evidence. And continue to do so.

@AR Devine: The Irish people certainly voted to get rid of the lot of them in the next election. Some of them lost their seats completely and Cosgrave had to blow out (to use his own words) and resign from politics for good and live off the benevolent Irish people right up to the present – the leech.

@Tommy Whelan: against the orange state,not the 26 county state

@AR Devine: sorry to inform you,and I’ve not a sinn Fein Nome in my body,but the ballot box north and south tell a different story,the shimmers are on the way up,i don’t necessarily see this as positive,but considering the current shower we have here in the 26 counties the mind boggles

@Brian Ward: Those were earlier bombings that didn’t show a fraction of the co-ordination or sophistication of the Dublin Monaghan bombings. The Dublin Monaghan bombings were designed to destroy Sunningdale and they succeeded.

@Tommy Whelan: at that time loyalists couldn’t find Dublin,let alone courier /assemble,place bomb,escape,grow up,obviously never lived in the 6 counties,brit intelligence had to be involved in some shape

@Brian Ward: On top of that the likes of the Miami show band massacre was an attempt to stitch up cross border terrorism so that they could defend tighter border controls and more soldiers in NI.

@Padraic Courtney: You are right Padraic, I got my atrocities mixed up. The Dub/Mon bombs were so expertly made that 100% of the bombs were destroyed according to the Irish Army. Those bombs weren’t the sort of things that were made in a hay shed and had to have been made by experts.

@Tommy Whelan: Nothing more? Shall we just ignore the fact that is was carried out under the direction of a British Army sergent called Billy Hanna? And that others suspected of involvement included Robert McConnell (serving British soldier), Robin ‘the Jackal’ Jackson (former British soldier) and Wesley Somerville (serving British Soldier who died in a premature explosion while slaughtering the Miami Showband). Maybe the fact that you joined the British Army yourself explains why you are so keen to play down all this inconvenient talk of collusion, eh?

@Tír Eoghain Gael: where did you get this “evidence”? Did you inform the police?

@Powerabbey: Funny you should say about informing the police. Shortly after the bombings, the RUC told the Gardai that they had identified the suspects. The Gardaí didn’t even ask for their names. As for where the names come from, they are widely known and circulated. Perhaps read Lethal Allies, by Anne Cadwallader for a start. A book which relies mostly on evidence gathered by the Historical Inquiries Unit.

Anyway, your post reads like that by someone who is in denial about collusion. Time to take your head out of the sand.

@Powerabbey: Seeing as the three people named are all dead, the police wouldn’t get very far in a prosecution. It’s the people behind them that we are interested in.

@Tír Eoghain Gael: tir why was the IRA targeting trains carrying people from the republic . Why was the Ira attacking the infrastructure of the republic when they bomb electric power installations build to provide cheap electricity for the people of the south . Why where they murdering Irish civilians , prison officers , police officers in the south .

@Brian Ward: Precisely. The Dublin bombs all went off at the same time and the Monaghan bomb was designed to draw Irish security forces away from the border just as the bombers would be approaching the border.

Loyalists have never shown that level of technical expertise before or since and the idea that they wouldn’t have done so during the Anglo Irish Agreement, Haughey’s period as Taoiseach or as retaliation for Enniskillen is laughable.

@Tír Eoghain Gael: tir why was the Ira targeting trains carrying people from Dublin to Belfast .

@Tommy Whelan: “but whatabout…but whatabout….!!” Tommy, this story is about the slaughter of 33 innocent civilians by the British army/UVF, not about a damaged train track. I must say your contributions to this debate have been worse than barrel scrapping:

- Denying collusion
- Blaming the high death toll on those who came to the aid of the injured any dying
- Trying to compare the blowing up of 33 people to a damaged train track

You stay classy, Tommy.

@Tír Eoghain Gael: that’s great but I’ll ask you again . Why was PIRA carrying out terrorist attacks against the people of the ROI when they targeted trains traveling to and from the south .

@Powerabbey: try reading a few books. I suggest you start with ‘ lethal allies”. All above have been named by co conspirators in police statements.

@M Bowe: do you have access to police statements. I would like to read these.

@Powerabbey: troll.