The Government is to seek the reopening of the inquest into the deaths of six people in the Monaghan bombing of May 17th, 1974.
The move follows the resumption in June of the inquest into the deaths of people who died in bombings in Dublin on the same day .
The full inquest proceedings into what remains the biggest unsolved criminal case in the history of the State will not begin until publication of a independent report into the case by Mr Justice Barron.
The Barron report, which is believed to be virtually complete, is expected to be delivered to the Government later this month. His remit included an investigation into whether the British security services assisted the UVF in the attack.
The Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady, wrote last night to the Dublin city coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, asking him to reopen the Monaghan inquests.
Dr Farrell is already responsible for the Dublin inquests, which have been adjourned until September 18th. When those cases reopened, the Justice for the Forgotten group, which represents the families of victims, sought the reopening of the inquests into those who were killed in Monaghan.
The group has said that it would seem "natural" the reopened inquests in these cases would be carried out by Dr Farrell. Where as the Dublin inquests were adjourned in 1974, the Monaghan inquests opened and concluded there in the summer of that year.
Those whose inquests the group was seeking to reopen were: Mr Patrick Askin, Mr Thomas Campbell, Mr Archie Harper, Mr Jack Travers, Mr George Williamson, and Ms Peggy White.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, welcomed the decision of the Attorney General to write to Dr Farrell. Mr Ahern has said that the Barron report will be sent to an Oireachtas committee for consideration.
In the Dáil last June, Mr Ahern said delays in the publication of the report could be attributed to the specific nature of the deliberations and the difficulties encountered by the British government in acquiring data.
The Irish Government had done everything it could to deal with the issue, Mr Ahern said. There were direct dealings between Mr Justice Barron and the British authorities through the Northern Ireland Office, the British government and its agencies.
While no matters were outstanding at that stage, Mr Ahern said it would "over-optimistic" to say that the judge had received all the information he wanted.
