Yesterday, we welcomed some members of the families of the 27 victims of the Dublin bombing and the seven who lost their lives in Monaghan, along with representatives of the Justice for the Forgotten group, to the Dáil for the debate on Sinn Féin's motion for the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. I welcomed that motion and the families welcomed the fact that the Government also supported it. However, one thing the motion failed to address is the fact that the families of the victims of those two horrific acts have never had the Garda files released to them or their legal teams. The motion referred to material from Operation Denton but a number of TDs raised issues of concern yesterday. The Garda investigation was famously inadequate and the State's response was callous and uncaring. The investigation was closed after ten weeks. Files relating to the investigation were lost or destroyed. The Barron commission criticised the investigation for ending too soon. Forensic evidence was mishandled. Evidence and files that should have been sent North after 24 hours were not sent for 11 days and then went missing.

Garda forensic technical expert, James Donovan, who was sent some material to test by the Garda, was not made aware that the material went North for 25 years. The forensics team in Dublin did not work in co-operation with its counterparts in Belfast. Not one survivor or bereaved family member was interviewed by the Garda in Dublin or Monaghan after the atrocity or to date. After 50 years, no policeman knocked on their doors. Jon Boutcher, who initially headed up Operation Denton, was the first policeman to knock on people's doors as part of his inquiry.

Bertie Ahern, when he was Taoiseach, said there was nothing in the files that would have suggested or indicated who was responsible. If the files are so clean of evidence, why have they not been released to the families? They should be released now. There have been 29 Ministers for Justice since the atrocity. None has been willing to release Garda files to the families' legal teams. Two of them, Nora Owen and Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, told the families at meetings that they should go and find their information and, if they found something, to come back to them. The investigative material presented to the McEntee inquiry has been blocked to the families' legal teams by the Government under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. This will stop family members and their legal teams from seeing the material for 50 years. I call on the Minister, as do the families, to release these materials immediately to the families and their legal teams.

This investigation was mishandled by the Garda. The aftermath, including the grief of the victims and their families, was mishandled by the State. The Tánaiste acknowledged that last night. The families want to see the investigation files but they still have not been allowed to do so. They will have to wait decades until the Commissions of Investigation Act no longer applies. Will the Government commit to releasing immediately the Garda files and the investigation materials to the victims, their families and their legal teams? If the Government gets its own house in order, we can go to the British state and ask it to get its house in order.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings this Friday. The legacy of that atrocity lives on in the memory of many. In my own town of Monaghan, I know how it impacted on people. I acknowledge the people who lost their lives that day. The bomb in Monaghan went off outside Greacen's pub. I was just reading about two children whose father dropped them to a hall that day while he went into Greacen's pub. When the bomb went off, the children were taken home in the panic. Later, the news came that their father had been badly injured in the bombing. This event happened 50 years ago but its legacy lives on.

The Government has supported all-party Dáil motions on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. There has been agreement right across the House on those motions. The matter continues to be a priority for the Government. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs has consistently raised the previous motions with the British Government, most recently with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 18 and 29 April. He will continue to do so. We discussed the issue at the Cabinet yesterday. There is agreement on it right across the House.

I cannot give the Deputy a commitment regarding the Garda files. However, I give her a commitment that I will raise the matter with the relevant Minister and the Tánaiste to see whether any further progress can be made.

Last night, the Tánaiste said in this House:

Today, we mourn with [the families] the great loss suffered by the victims of the bombs of 17 May 1974. We offer our humble acknowledgement of the obstacles [they] have overcome and the mountain [they] have climbed to get your campaign to where it is today. We recognise our own past shortcomings as a State and political system.

On this 50th anniversary commemoration, we have to recognise that. More than anything, the families would welcome the Government stepping in and releasing the Garda files. The Minister said she would raise it with the Tánaiste. The files should be released and that should be announced as soon as possible. The information held on files under the Commissions of Investigation Act should also be released immediately to the families. A line of communication, like the line of communication that was set up with the Stardust families, should be set up with these families in order that they and their legal teams can start asking the Government for what they need to get justice and truth. That is what they want more than anything.

Like the Deputy, I have engaged with the families of the victims of this terrible atrocity. I know some of them extremely well. It has been a long journey and a difficult time for them. As the Tánaiste said, we need to look at this issue once again and try to get access to the files. I take on board what the Deputy said.