PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins has laid a wreath in Monaghan at the location where a bomb devastated the town centre 50 years ago.

A ceremony marked the anniversary of deadly attacks on 17 May, 1974 when three no-warning bombs went off across Dublin city centre and one in Monaghan town.

The names of the victims were read out and the bells of St Patrick’s Church tolled at 6.58pm, the exact time the Monaghan bomb exploded, before Higgins laid the wreath on behalf of the people of Ireland.

Local TD and Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys laid a wreath on behalf of the Irish Government before prayers were said and a tree planted.

No-one has ever been convicted over the bombings, but the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) admitted responsibility in 1993.

A commemorative event also took place in Talbot Street in Dublin earlier today, where an official memorial honours the 35 people killed in the bombings, including two unborn babies.

It was the biggest loss of life on any single day of the Troubles.

Another 300 people are estimated to have been injured in the blasts.

Speaking at the event in Dublin, Higgins said there was a “manifest failure” of the UK and Irish governments to adequately respond to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

He said: “Even in the context of the many atrocities committed at that time, the Dublin and Monaghan car bombings of 1974 were crimes of a particular level of savagery, executed consciously upon workers and civilians with total disregard for human life and suffering.

“Like the families of so many other victims and survivors of the Northern Ireland conflict, so many of you here today have been trying to find answers about what happened.”

Higgins said it is a “matter of profound regret” and “unacceptable” that no-one had been held accountable for the atrocities.

The president said systemic failures at state level include possible collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries, the disappearance of important forensic evidence and a refusal to supply information.

He said: “The manifest failure of both the British and Irish governments to initiate suitable responses in the aftermath of the attacks has left a legacy that cannot be left unaddressed.

“I share with the relatives gathered or represented here their feeling of being abandoned and failed by the system, of their being denied justice for the loss of loved ones.”

Higgins said the relatives need more than an empathetic ear, adding: “Justice demands that they deserve the truth – no more, no less.”

The president also criticised the current British Government’s Legacy Act, saying: “The enactment of that unilaterally sourced legislation has resulted in families who have spent decades fighting for an effective investigation into their cases of not only facing further uncertainty and delays but of the deprivation of legal rights.”

Higgins said there was a collective responsibility to deal with legacy issues in an ethical manner, adding: “A strategy of feigned amnesia, or hoping time will deliver one, is simply not an option, nor is any strategy of continuing the protection of previous evasions or failures to act.

“It is not morally acceptable, nor is it politically feasible, to request that those affected by such tragedy should forget about the past, draw a line or move on in the name of any naive desire for a supposed closure that may never be attainable.”

He said the families’ call for the full truth to emerge should be supported, “however embarrassing or painful it may be”.

Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin also attended the event organised by the Justice for the Forgotten group which represents bereaved families and survivors, as were former taoisigh Leo Varadkar and Bertie Ahern. 

PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher and Iain Livingstone, who leads the Operation Denton operation, were among other attendees.

Before the Dublin ceremony, Martin and Boutcher attended a memorial Mass at nearby St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral.

Leading the service, Archbishop Dermot Farrell read out the names of those killed in the bombings.

Calling for reconciliation, he added: “Pray that those with the power to be able to deliver that justice, which will ultimately bring peace, will come quickly so that all may be fully healed of that awful atrocity and tragedy.”