The Irish News reports Dundalk families meeting in Dundalk with Justice Henry Barron, revealing his report on the Dundalk bombing will not be completed until 2005.

Bombing report 'in new year'

(Valerie Robinson, Irish News)

A judge has told two families that a report on the murders of their relatives in the 1975 Dundalk bombing will be published in the new year.

Justice Henry Barron, the lone member of a private inquiry into the bombing, met relatives of Hugh Watters and Jack Rooney in Dundalk yesterday (Monday).

The two men, both in their 60s, were killed when a loyalist car bomb exploded outside Kay's Tavern on Crowe Street in the town on December 19 1975. Several more people suffered serious injuries in the blast.

Mr Rooney's daughter Maura McKeever yesterday said that relatives had originally hoped that Justice Barron's report would be published before the end of the year.

She said that during the meeting the judge sought clarification on a number of points from the family, while relatives sought information on the availability of forensic evidence during his investigation.

Ms McKeever repeated her plea to the government for a full public inquiry into the bombing.