Book Launch - The Dublin/Monaghan Bombings, 1974

international | history and heritage | event notice Thursday September 26, 2013 07:47 by Jack Lane - Belfast Historical and Educational Society

The Dublin/Monaghan Bombings, 1974, a military analysis, by John Morgan, Lt. Col (Retd.). 248pp. Index. ISBN: 978-1-872078-17-4.

Teachers Club, Sat 19th Oct at 7:30pm

Despite official enquiries into the Dublin/Monaghan Bombings, no satisfactory answers have ever been found as to who carried them out. Even though these Bombings caused the biggest loss of life of a single operation of the whole Troubles, garda investigations were wound up after three months—with no proper explanation of what had happened; no prosecutions were ever brought.

Despite official enquiries into the Dublin/Monaghan Bombings, no satisfactory answers have ever been found as to who carried them out. Even though these Bombings caused the biggest loss of life of a single operation of the whole Troubles, garda investigations were wound up after three months—with no proper explanation of what had happened; no prosecutions were ever brought.

This book is about the efforts of Colonel Morgan to rescue the event from oblivion and to find answers as to what happened. The author is a retired Army officer. He helped in the making of two television programmes, Yorkshire Television's Hidden Hand: The Forgotten Massacre and RTE's Friendly Forces. Further effort by Colonel Morgan and others resulted in the Irish Government establishing the Barron Enquiry, which reported in 2003 and 2004.

To assist the Barron Tribunal, Colonel Morgan made a military analysis of the four bombing incidents, which occurred on 17th May 1974, the third day of the Ulster Workers' Council Constitutional Stoppage. He concluded that, so sophisticated was the planning and execution of this operation, that it was impossible for Loyalists to have acted on their own. Amongst the features which pointed to professional direction was the nature of the explosives used, the siting and strength of each bomb, and the timing devices which ensured that three car-bombs went off simultaneously at 5.30 pm on 17th May. He also concluded that the fourth bomb, in Monaghan town centre, was a diversionary tactic which enabled the Dublin perpetrators to cross back to the North. His enquiries led him to conclude that elements of British Military Intelligence, acting on the authority of their superiors, conceived and played a crucial part in the operation. The object was to discourage Southern involvement in Northern affairs, destroy the Sunningdale Agreement, and discredit Harold Wilson's Labour Government.

Unfortunately, Justice Henry Barron was ultra-cautious in evaluating the evidence put before him. Like Irish Governments down the years, he felt it was unthinkable that Britain would act in such a manner. He dismissed Colonel Morgan's Submissions.

Part One of this book contains the Military Analyses presented by Colonel Morgan to the Barron Tribunal, while in Part Two the Colonel describes how he became involved, his interactions with the Judge, and the attempts to frighten him off the issue. Annexes contain descriptions of the television programmes, and include documents of various kinds.

Angela Clifford supplies some context for the Bombing in an Introduction, and considers the Standards of Proof applied by Tribunals in an Afterword.