An inquest into the Dublin bombings is to be formally reopened next Friday, 29 years after the attacks which killed 33 people in the capital and in Monaghan.

The Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, said yesterday that inquests into how 26 people died in Dublin city centre on May 17th, 1974 would resume by way of mention at the coroner's court on Friday.

Full inquests won't begin until publication of Mr Justice Barron's independent investigation of the bombings, which is due in September.

Part of the remit of the Barron inquiry is to try to establish whether the British security services assisted the UVF in the attack.

Mr Justice Barron told The Irish Times last night that the decision to re-open the inquest "had nothing to do with my inquiry".

He said his report was "virtually completed" and due to be published within a few months. "The present line is that if it is not out by September we will be very unhappy."

 Asked whether the inquest was likely to throw up any new evidence, the former Supreme Court judge replied: "Not in my view. I am sure the evidence to the inquest is the evidence already before us.

"I think it does serve a purpose because if you have a loved one killed you want to know the law has taken its ordinary course, and to have a coroner decide how the death occurred. I would see it as part of the healing process of the bereaved."

Inquests were heard into the deaths of six of the Monaghan victims but, at the request of the Gardaí, the Dublin inquest was immediately adjourned after it began in 1974.

The Justice for the Forgotten group, which has spearheaded the campaign to establish the truth behind the bombings, welcomed the announcement yesterday.

© The Irish Times 

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