Justice at last for the forgotten victims of sectarian murder in Dundalk

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Alleged Collusion

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The Argus (Dundalk), 6 December 2006:

Report of independent Commission of Inquiry into Dundalk bombing

'Irish Govt. guilty of worse crime than bombers - they covered up'

In the report of the sub-committee into the Dundalk bombing the Chairman, Sean Ardagh commented on the invaluable contributions of the families of Hugh Watters (60) and Jack Rooney (62) who were killed in the bombing of Kay's Tavern.

Included in the report of the sub-committee were comments from the families that included:

Mrs Margaret English " I thought the Irish Government would look after its citizens. It is actually breaking my heart to think that it did not. My thoughts are - I hate to say it and I hope Daddy is not looking from up there and saying ' Margaret, that is awful' - that I really and honestly believe that the Irish Government committed a worse crime than the people who killed my dad by covering it up. If it had, in the early 1970s, done something about what was happening with these bombings, my Dad would not be dead".

The widow of Jack Rooney was too ill to attend the hearing but she made her thoughts known through her daughter, Ms Maura McKeever who told the sub-committee "as two citizens of the State, two innocent victims, they should have been treated more fairly. Nobody wanted to know; nobody ever came near to us to say anything".

Ms McKeever herself told the sub-committee that her mother was now 89 and was still waiting for someone to come and tell her there was collusion and she added that the family felt abandoned by certain sections of the community. "Neither the Government, Garda or priests - nobody - came near my mother. It was like saying 'we will ignore it and it will go away'. Nobody cared and I am living with that".

She concluded that she would like a public inquiry because she said "the guards were supposed to be doing their duty and the Government was supposed to be doing its. We are citizens of this State. We are not being protected, we have been ignored".

Reflecting on her childhood in Dundalk Mrs English told the sub-committee "I always felt we were so secure - really secure - and then when Daddy was murdered it was like somebody got our little cocoon and just broke it".

She continued "after my father's death we just went round in circles but nobody ever came to ask if we wanted to talk about it. We were just pushed aside. It destroyed families, but nobody helped".

Mrs McKeever, whose father survived for three days despite his injuries recounted to the sub-committee the day that she had to tell her mother there was no hope for her father. "I do not know why I was asked to do that. I was only in my early 20s. What would I have known about anything? When I said it to her she went crazy. She said, 'what kind of daughter are you, trying to tell me your father is going to die'? However, I was only doing what I was asked to do. I did not know any better. It was an awful time. My father was buried on Christmas Eve and Christmas was an awful time for me". 

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See  early media reports from the http://www.breakingnews.ie/ dated 29 November 2006:

Britain 'Colluded Over Murders In Republic' 

and British security forces 'colluded in international terrorism'

See also the following report from ireland.com: Barron finds British collusion in attacks

The Argus (Dundalk), 29 November 2006: A high level of collusion found in Dundalk bombing

The Daily Telegraph, 29 November 2006: Ahern call for ‘collusion’ inquiry

Ulster Television News online, 29 November 2006:Green Party demand public inquiry

The Irish Examiner, 30 November 2006: Government backs report on collusion in North

The Irish Examiner, 30 November 2006: The nine attacks — a litany of terror and death

The Irish Examiner, 30 November 2006: ‘What we have heard today are things we have known for years’

The Irish Independent, 30 November 2006: British colluded in 'butchery'

The Irish Times, 30 November 2006: London must co-operate on collusion inquiries - Ahern

The Dundalk Democrat, 6 December 2006: Dundalk Bombings News Special: Reports by Anne Marie Eaton:

Taoiseach supports debate on collusion

Hope at last for victims families

Case gets attention it deserves

Truth must emerge

The Argus (Dundalk), 6 December 2006: News Special Report of Independent Commission of Inquiry into Dundalk Bombing

International Terrorism Can UK now legitimately refuse to co-operate with investigation in the light of 9/11 and London bomb?

A Culture of secrecy existed together with a grudging handing over of information

'Authorities in the Republic should have been more vigorous to bring perpetrators to justice' Principal conclusions of the Inquiry

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All rights reserved. Revised: December 28, 2006 .