SOME OF the information given to the Commission of Investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings was provided on condition that it would never be released, the Taoiseach has said.
Asked to comment on the news that the campaign group Justice for the Forgotten has launched a High Court challenge seeking the release of certain evidence compiled by the commission's sole member, Patrick McEntee SC, Bertie Ahern said yesterday that some of the information received by it was privileged, as it had been given only on condition that it would never be released.
"The Attorney General ... and the legal representatives will just have to look at the case."
Asked about the claim from Justice for the Forgotten that his department had not responded to three letters seeking certain documents and clarification, Mr Ahern said it was a legal issue.
"When he's [Patrick McEntee] finished his work we can't release it, because he got it on the basis that he wouldn't release it, so therefore we'll just have to see what the legal ramifications are."
The report was published in April last year. It found no evidence of collusion in the winding down of the Garda investigations into the bombings in May 1974.
However, it said it had been hampered by inadequate information, including the loss or destruction of many Garda documents.
A pregnant woman was among 33 people who died and 300 people were injured when the four car bombs exploded.
Margaret Urwin of Justice for the Forgotten said formal writs had been lodged this month.
The group claims the commission failed to report on one of its terms of reference - referred to as "the man in the Four Courts Hotel" - and that it has not been informed why.
The group says it has been denied access to the "evidence gathered and the archive assembled by the commission".
"It is a matter of great concern to us that this evidence may now be locked away for at least the next 30 years," the group stated.