{"id":3702,"date":"2016-06-03T09:11:37","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T08:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=3702"},"modified":"2016-06-03T09:11:37","modified_gmt":"2016-06-03T08:11:37","slug":"3702","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=3702","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<header>\n<h1>The time is overdue for the two governments to tell what they know about the Dublin-Monaghan and the Birmingham bombings<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b23c4649588d6ce3149e7792b90789c?s=16&amp;r=g\" alt=\"\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" data-lazy-src=\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b23c4649588d6ce3149e7792b90789c?s=16&amp;r=g\" data-lazy-srcset=\"http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b23c4649588d6ce3149e7792b90789c?s=32&amp;r=g 2x\" \/><noscript>&amp;amp;amp;lt;img alt=&#8221; src=&#8217;http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b23c4649588d6ce3149e7792b90789c?s=16&amp;amp;amp;amp;#038;r=g&#8217; srcset=&#8217;http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b23c4649588d6ce3149e7792b90789c?s=32&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;r=g 2x&#8217; class=&#8217;avatar avatar-16 photo&#8217; height=&#8217;16&#8217; width=&#8217;16&#8217; \/&amp;amp;amp;gt;<\/noscript><\/div>\n<div><a title=\"Posts by Brian Walker\" href=\"http:\/\/sluggerotoole.com\/author\/brianwalker\/\" rel=\"author\"><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\">Brian Walker<\/span><\/a> on <abbr title=\"2016-06-01T10:40:55+0100\">1 June 2016<\/abbr> , <abbr title=\"2016-06-01T10:40:55+0100\">10:40 am<\/abbr> <a href=\"http:\/\/sluggerotoole.com\/2016\/06\/01\/the-time-is-overdue-for-the-two-governments-to-tell-what-they-know-over-the-dublin-monaghan-and-the-birmingham-bombings\/#disqus_thread\" data-disqus-identifier=\"99661 http:\/\/sluggerotoole.com\/?p=99661\"><em><\/em><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\"> 0<\/span><\/a> | 1,055 views<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<section>Consider the latest developments about two atrocities, the Dublin and Monaghan UVF bombs in May 1974 and the Birmingham IRA pub bombs of November the same year. What they have in common is knowledge of the identities of what we must call the alleged perpetrators. The deep frustration caused to individuals and states has not gone away. K<a>ieran Conway now a Dublin solicitor, then the IRA\u2019s \u201cdirector of intelligence.<\/a>\u201d has again confirmed what is so well known, that the identities of the IRA killers of Birmingham are in the public domain.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In different interviews he seemed schizophrenic. On the Today programme, confronted with the outrage of a victim\u2019s relative on the day \u00a0a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-birmingham-36421035\"><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\">coroner decides whether to order new inquests,<\/span><\/a> he said it was \u201can accident.. because the phones didn\u2019t work.. .. horrible .. but part of a just war\u201d. Yesterday he <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-birmingham-36390684\"><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\">wrote off the IRA campaign <\/span><\/a>as \u201ccompletely futile\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cA new trial is ruled out for lack of evidence unless the guilty men turned up at a UK police station and confessed but that isn\u2019t going to happen..because the extradition rules ( of the 1970s) would apply today.<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed. One person\u2019s legalistic evasion is another\u2019s principle of justice. \u00a0Inquests are a option which have been deferred for grotesquely long periods in so many cases because \u2013 or under the pretence \u2013 that they may be superseded by a trial, But would anything less than naming names satisfy victims and survivors? \u00a0This is the question for any police\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2016\/may\/31\/northern-ireland-police-open-new-investigation-into-kingsmill-massacre\"><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\">reinvestigation of the\u00a0Kingsmills massacr<\/span><\/a>e or any of the outstanding 5<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-northern-ireland-35562197\"><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\">0 or so \u00a0major legacy inquests <\/span><\/a>in NI itself. \u00a0Expectations may be raised \u00a0that can\u2019t be satisfied. That perhaps is \u00a0not enough reason for not trying.<\/p>\n<p>But there are deep doubts that many inquests will yield major results. So \u00a0has the time come to change course and require the security services on both sides of the border and the Irish sea \u00a0to disclose what they know? Can this be done without identifying the killers, whose identities are protected \u00a0by natural justice without a trial?<\/p>\n<p>But the other issue is the obvious foot dragging by the two states. The Northern Ireland senior judiciary has assumed control over legacy inquests and does not hide its impatience with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.u.tv\/News\/2016\/01\/28\/MOD-has-money-for-wars-but-not-inquests-Judge-53061\"><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\">Ministry \u00a0of Defence<\/span><\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-northern-ireland-36198477\"><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\">Northern Ireland Executive.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It hardly helps if it isn\u2019t clear which administration is responsible for funding. The whole legacy issue is a terrible muddle.<\/p>\n<p>Irish foreign minister <a href=\"http:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/news\/irish-news\/charlie-flanagan-says-government-committed-7988257\"><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\">Charlie Flanagan is demanding that the British government open the files on the Dublin and Monaghan bombs <\/span><\/a>for an international inquiry. But the south is still a bolthole for many killers. To what extent did the old extradition rules allow hundreds to get away with it? How for their part can the Republic make amends? \u00a0Despite the good faith shown in inquiries like the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Smithwick_Tribunal\"><span style=\"color: #cc3333;\">Smithwick tribunal, <\/span><\/a>resentment still prevails over the erratic security cooperation during the Troubles.<\/p>\n<p>Justice may be unobtainable but greater disclosure all round is a good second best. To achieve it would require an end to legacy prosecutions and an honest debate about \u201cnational security\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Why go through years of rigmarole \u00a0which \u00a0is likely \u00a0to end in worse \u00a0frustration, when the Gordian knot of disclosure could be so much more easily cut ? How long \u00a0do we have to pursue the search for \u00a0justice before we admit it is unobtainable and opt for more disclosure? Until that happens the two governments will hide behind legal process in refusing \u00a0release of security files.<\/p>\n<p>Although the British and Irish governments seem joined at the hip in so many ways, they have not fully confronted their respective obligations on disclosure for dealing with the past. It\u2019s disingenuous of them to claim that they \u00a0are powerless to act until the local parties agree on the legacy agenda. Until they do so themselves, how can they expect the same from Stormont?<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The time is overdue for the two governments to tell what they know about the Dublin-Monaghan and the Birmingham bombings &nbsp; &amp;amp;amp;lt;img alt=&#8221; src=&#8217;http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b23c4649588d6ce3149e7792b90789c?s=16&amp;amp;amp;amp;#038;r=g&#8217; srcset=&#8217;http:\/\/1.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b23c4649588d6ce3149e7792b90789c?s=32&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;r=g 2x&#8217; class=&#8217;avatar avatar-16 photo&#8217; height=&#8217;16&#8217; width=&#8217;16&#8217; \/&amp;amp;amp;gt; Brian Walker on 1 June 2016 , 10:40 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=3702\">Read more <span class=\"meta-nav\">&raquo;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" ><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" border=\"0\" style=\"padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\"); var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_counters_lang=\"en_US\";var hupso_title_t=\"\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3703,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3702\/revisions\/3703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}