On day of UK govt’s amnesty bill I was mourning my dad – killed by UVF in Dublin

May 17 was the anniversary of my father’s murder, and the attempted murders of nearly 300 other people – including myself – in the UVF attacks on Dublin and Monaghan in 1974, which claimed 34 lives in all.

This anniversary now dubiously falls on the same day that the British Government attempts to cover their own legal liabilities of soldiers and police who carried out killings during The Troubles by attempting what can only be called a not-so-obvious slight of hand by introducing legislation to give them immunity.

Let’s not forget that the families of soldiers and police murdered by terrorists in Northern Ireland will also suffer as well as families of civilians murdered by terrorists.

From what I hear, this information platform being discussed is also legally inadmissible because no names and details of perpetrators will be published due to GDPR and national security issues.

So what’s the point in misleading people to believe this will give them answers? It wont. It will only mean more questions.

This week our own Taoiseach gave the usual tea-and-sympathy speech at the memorial and requested the British Government hand over files in relation to the bombings.

What he did not tell the media is that the Government in the Republic is refusing to hand over Garda files to Operation Kenova detectives.

This whole ‘victim-centered’ term I hear politicians frequently mutter is a lie, a fabrication, a con job.

Victims and survivors are the last thing on the minds of these politicians. We are an embarrassment to them.

Edward O’Neill, Dublin

More opinion:

Owen Polley: Brace yourselves for full-on barrage of lies and hysteria over the Protocol in the weeks ahead

OPINION, LETTERS, and EDITORIAL homepage