Responding to the announcement today that the victims and families of those who died in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings are to sue the British government in Belfast, Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Programme Director of Amnesty International, said:

“Every day brings another story from our troubled past, of victims and their families finding the doors to justice slammed in their faces at every turn.

“It’s awful that desperate families such as those from the Dublin and Monaghan bombings have to take these extreme measures simply to establish the truth about what happened to their loved ones.

“This underlines the urgency for both Northern Ireland political parties and the British and Irish governments to agree a comprehensive new approach to investigate Troubles-related human rights abuses.”

Thirty-three people, including a pregnant woman, were killed and almost 300 people were injured when the bombs exploded.

The deaths were the biggest loss of life in one day in the Troubles. Nobody has been charged in connection with the attacks, but it is alleged that loyalist paramilitaries, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) carried out the attacks with the knowledge and assistance of elements of British security and intelligence services in Northern Ireland.