Inquest into 1970s Dublin bombings resumes

Dublin City Coroner's Court is to resume its inquest today into the murder of three young bus workers in bombs planted in Dublin…

Dublin City Coroner's Court is to resume its inquest today into the murder of three young bus workers in bombs planted in Dublin in the early 1970s.

The victims were Thomas Douglas (21), from Scotland; bus driver George Bradshaw (30), of Fethard, Co Tipperary; and Tommy Duffy (23).

The inquiry follows the publication last week of a report by an Oireachtas sub-committee examining the bombings in which it condemned the lack of co-operation from authorities in the North and in Britain.

Mr Seán Ardagh, chairman of the sub-committee said in its refusal to co-operate, the British government was not meeting its commitments under the Good Friday Agreement.

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The sub-committee criticised the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, whose argument against the release of official documents had been "totally undermined" by the evidence of Mr Seán Donlon, former secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Mr Murphy had defended the non-release of documents on the basis that it would require "a further major and time-consuming search". However, Mr Donlon told the sub-committee that the Northern Ireland authorities had already sifted and screened their papers in preparation for the release of official documents.

The bombings happened on the evening of December 1st, 1972, as the ministers in the Dáil were debating an amendment to the Offences Against the State Act.

As the ministers considered the legislation to take stronger measures against terrorists a bomb exploded at 7.58 p.m. at Liberty Hall. No one was killed but dozens were injured.

Another car bomb then exploded at 8.15 p.m. killing Mr Bradshaw and Mr Duffy. The anti-terrorist law was then pushed through the following morning and a third bomb then exploded on January 20th, 1973, in Sackville Place, killing Mr Douglas.