British will not hand over bomb files, says Kenny

TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny indicated that the British government did not intend handing over any further files on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

“The British government is of the opinion the information it supplied is all the relevant information it intends to supply,” he said.

Mr Kenny said he did not have the authority to instruct the British government to supply information on other files.

The Government would continue to work on the issue, he said. Tánaiste Éamon Gilmore had explored it in detail when he met the Justice for the Forgotten group. “As a Government, we will continue to work with the British government to see if there is other, further information that might and should be made available,” he added.

Mr Kenny said he had raised the issue with British prime minister David Cameron last week, having previously raised it in London.

“We are both of the view that the truth is absolutely essential in all of these cases,” he added.

The prime minister himself, said Mr Kenny, had raised the question of an inquiry into the Pat Finucane case. “There is a recognition that what we do not want to end up with is a whole series of public inquiries,” he added.

Replying to Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, the Taoiseach said he would examine a request for funding for the Justice for the Forgotten group.

Mr Adams said his party had called on the British government to allow access by an independent international judicial figure to all original documents it held to assist in resolution of the crimes committed.

“The British government admits that it has files which it has not handed over,” he added. “What possible reason can it have for not handing over files, especially, as the Taoiseach has asserted, that there has been a complete transformation of relationships between Ireland and Britain?”

Sinn Féin, said Mr Adams, represented people who had suffered grievously and who sought a complete transformation of the relationship as well.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said there could be no justification for continuing to cover up the files. “Whatever is in them can be no worse than the conspiracy theories that have developed because of the failure to release them and the implied desire to keep them secret,” he added.