Verdicts of unlawful death on bomb victims

The jury at the inquest into the 1972 and 1973 Dublin bombings has returned a verdict of "unlawful killing" in the deaths of Mr Thomas Duffy, Mr George Bradshaw and Mr Thomas Douglas, all CIÉ workers.

The jury, which took just over an hour to reach the verdict, recommended that a transcript of the inquest be forwarded to the Taoiseach and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Mr Duffy (24), a bus driver from Castlebar, Co Mayo, and Mr George Bradshaw (29), a bus conductor from Fethard, Co Tipperary, died when a car bomb exploded at Sackville Place at 8.15 p.m. on December 1st, 1972. The men had just left the nearby CIÉ workers' club following a bomb warning from gardaí.

Mr Douglas (21), a bus conductor from Stirling, Scotland, was killed in a second explosion in Sackville Place at 3.18 p.m. on January 20th, 1973.

The officer now responsible for the Garda files on the bombings told the inquest that no suspects were ever identified.

The files showed that at 8.08 p.m. on December 1st 1972, Garda control received a bomb warning from the RUC in relation to two devices - one at Liberty Hall on Eden Quay and the other behind Clery's department store, which backs onto Earl Place. The RUC had been alerted by the Belfast Newsletter, who had received an anonymous warning at 7.58 p.m.

A car bomb exploded at Liberty Hall moments before gardaí received the warning. Almost 100 people were injured, but no one was killed.

Gardaí immediately made their way to Clerys, but were unable to detect the device before it exploded on Sackville Place near Earl Place.

Mr Duffy and Mr Bradshaw, who had been responding to a Garda order to evacuate the CIÉ workers' club at Earl Place, were killed as they ran into the path of the bomb.

Gardaí had followed hundreds of leads in relation to the bombings, Mr O'Mahoney said, including positive sightings of the man who hired the cars loaded with the bombs, but "all inquiries proved negative".

In relation to the 1973 explosion, the Garda file states that a bomb warning was made to the Dublin city telephone exchange by an anonymous caller from a local number at 3.08 p.m. on January 20th 1973. The caller said a bomb was about to detonate at O'Connell Bridge. At 3.18 p.m. the car bomb exploded at Sackville Place killing Mr Douglas, a passer-by, and injuring 14 others.

The car carrying the bomb had been hijacked in a predominantly Protestant area of Belfast earlier that day, Mr O'Mahoney said. Some 130 statements were taken and numerous inquiries made. There was a "strong suspicion" that a loyalist subversive organisation hijacked the car, but "there was no definite evidence of this," he said.

"From my examination of the files, the investigations into both the 1972 and 1973 bombings did not identify any organisation or group that was responsible."

The Dublin City Coroner, Dr Brian Farrell said the families' grief had been compounded by the delay in the inquests, which "should have been completed 30 years ago". He said he hoped the families "no longer feel isolated and forgotten".

Ms Margaret Urwin, campaign secretary for Justice for the Forgotten, the group that represents the victims and their families, said she was disappointed by the lack of information in the Garda files. She also said the lack of cooperation on the part of the British authorities was to be "greatly deplored".