The Deputy has asked three questions. On the matter of the issues raised in last week's Sunday newspapers, I am aware that Justice for the Forgotten was in the process of bringing a case against the British authorities in relation to the bombings, but it did not proceed with that when the independent commission of inquiry was established some years ago.
In relation to the article in The Sunday Tribune, I do not know the status of the correspondence referred to therein and whether it represents a formal or finalised position of the British Government on the question of its bringing a possible case. I hope the British authorities will co-operate fully with Mr. Justice Barron and that he will be in a position to establish the truth and to find out who is responsible for what happened. That is the main focus of his current efforts. It would not be wise for us to try to anticipate or speculate on the judge's possible findings on specific aspects of the issues he is examining, of which I am not aware. The task of the Government at this stage is to support the judge in every possible way in order that he can complete his work as soon as possible.
Deputies will be aware that I have raised the Dublin and Monaghan bombings with the Prime Minister, Mr. Blair, on many occasions. The British authorities are well aware that there is an independent commission of inquiry examining all aspects of the bombings. Whatever about the question of any legal options the British authorities might have been considering in the event of legal proceedings being taken before the commission of inquiry was established, I would not wish to do anything that might in any way be considered to cut across the work of Mr. Justice Barron and his team.
I firmly believe that Mr. Justice Barron must now be left to pursue all the relevant matters and I will continue to support him in any way I can. I am not aware if any of those papers were in the papers given to Mr. Justice Barron, but I very much doubt that is the case.
The Deputy also asked about the papers that were transferred. In order to be absolutely clear about what I said on this matter last week, I will restate what I said to make sure the position is clear. I answered supplementary questions to Deputy Ó Caoláin and others last week. I said that I was aware that Mr. Justice Barron has acquired an enormous amount of material in respect of the inquiry generally. I hope I did not convey the impression that all that material came from the British files. I was talking about the enormous amount of material he has gathered, which has come from numerous sources, Departments, agencies and elsewhere. I am not saying that all the material came from the British files; in actual fact, that was limited enough.
As I said last week, the judge wants more material. While he got extracts, I know he has gone back to the British authorities to try to ensure that he gets all the information and clarification he requires. He has not yet received that. I do not want to give the impression that he got all that he wished to get. Maybe what he got was all that was available, but that is a different matter. He has not got all that he wished to get. We will continue to support him.
Since Question Time last week, my officials have been in touch with Prime Minister Blair's office again reiterating that we want as much material as is available and that we hope that Mr. Justice Barron receives more assistance than he has received to date. I think I correctly relayed the position that Mr. Justice Barron is not satisfied about this matter. While he is satisfied that he has gathered an enormous amount of material, he has not gathered an enormous amount of material from the British authorities.