He has backed a call from victims` group Justice for the Forgotten for a public inquiry into the bombings.

"The reports of collusion described by the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) Committee's report are deeply disturbing," he said.

"The Irish Government had concerns in the mid-1970s that loyalist paramilitaries and agents of the British state were colluding to cause harm to life in the south of Ireland.

"This confirms the pattern of behaviour that has recently been reported by international legal and human rights experts on behalf of the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry. "

Earlier this month, an international panel of human rights experts released a 115-page report that claims to have uncovered evidence of British Army and police collusion in dozens of sectarian murders.

The report says that there was considerable and credible evidence of security-force involvement in 74 of the 76 sectarian murders they investigated, half of them in Northern Ireland and the other half in the Republic.

"The consistent reports of high-level collusion demand a public inquiry," said Mr Sargent. "I fully support Justice for the Forgotten's call for such an inquiry."