asked the Minister for Justice (a) the total number of murders and (b) the number unsolved in the years from 1972 to 1977.

The Garda Síochána would class as murder, and quite rightly, the 45 deaths that occurred as a result of bomb outrages in Dublin, Belturbet, Monaghan and Dundalk during the period mentioned and in respect of which no one has as yet been made amenable.

Leaving aside those 45 deaths, there were 106 murders in the period from 1972 to 1977 of which seven remain unsolved to date.