Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was pessimistic that Ireland could successfully bring the case of the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bombings to the European Court of Human Rights.
He was replying to Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) who suggested it was "long past time a British government was held internationally accountable for its actions in 1974".
Mr Ahern said he had asked for legal advice. "We are aware the European Court of Human Rights has rejected two complaints made by Justice for the Forgotten," he said. "A similar outcome has occurred in many other cases in other jurisdictions on the grounds of the length of time between events and proceedings."
He added that he had not seen the Attorney General's advice yet, but over the summer much work was done on constructing a case, the appropriate grounds on which to take a case, on who would be joined in proceedings, and issues of time.
"The Attorney General is to present a report on this. I would prefer if we received the data and would like to state that I am optimistic about that, but I am not," he said.
Mr Ahern said Mr Justice Barron was finalising his fourth and final report, which would deal with the Dundalk bombings of 1975 and certain other events elsewhere in the country around the same time. At the end of September, the cost of the Barron inquiry was €2.29 million, which did not include grants paid directly to Justice for the Forgotten.
