Madam, - Justice for the Forgotten is conducting an oral history project on a number of cross-Border bombings that occurred in this State in the early to mid-1970s.
Upon completion, the collected interviews will be made available to the public through a variety of media and will also be deposited in the National Archives of Ireland.
The project will encompass the Dublin bombings of December 1972 and January 1973 and the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of May 17th 1974, which killed a total of 34 people. We will be recording the memories of those directly affected by these bombings, through bereavement or personal injury, as well as the recollections of those caught up in the event in other ways, such as members of the Fire Brigade and Garda.
Civilian examples of the latter would include the off-duty Dublin bus driver who in May 1974 commissioned a bus from the nearby depot to ferry large numbers of the injured to hospital in the absence of other means of transport, or the 40 members of the Irish Red Cross who came on the Parnell Street scene almost immediately.
I would be grateful for the opportunity to ask any of your readers who fall into these categories and would like to participate in the project to contact me. I would also be interested in speaking to any journalists, or others in public life at the time, who have memories of these events that they would be willing to share.
I am contactable at the Justice for the Forgotten office on 01-8554300, by email at 1974bombings@esatlink.com or at the address below. - Yours, etc,
DIANE FORSYTH,
Justice for the Forgotten,
64-66 Lower Gardiner Street,
Dublin 1.