Bomb relatives to meet Irish president

Nine people were killed in the no-warning bomb

Relatives of the people killed in the Claudy bombing are to meet the Irish President, Mary McAleese, on Thursday.

The families are expected to hold a private meeting with Mrs McAleese at her official residence in Dublin.

Nine people, three of them children, died when three bombs exploded in the County Londonderry village in 1972.

Mary McAleese: Private meeting

A delegation of 14 is to leave Claudy on Thursday for a two-day visit to the Irish capital.

The Shared City Project is co-ordinating the cross-border meeting, which has been organised by Democratic Unionist Party assembly member William Hay.

The relatives will meet survivors of the 1974 Dublin bombing.

Catholic priest

Last December, the police said a priest was involved in the Claudy bombing.

It also emerged that both the Catholic Church's cardinal at the time, William Conway, and the then Secretary of State, William Whitelaw, met to discuss the matter.

However, a politician who was a junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office at the time of the Claudy bombing said he knew nothing of an alleged cover-up over the involvement of a Catholic priest in the attack.

Merle Eakin: Daughter died in atrocity

David Howell, now Lord Howell, added that he did not think a public inquiry was the answer.

The Catholic Church said it was horrified by the allegations.

The families of the victims spoke of their distress after being told about the implication of a Catholic priest in the atrocity.

Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kinkaid said a search of 1972 papers clearly showed that a parish priest in south Derry was a Provisional IRA member actively involved in terrorism.

He said the search also showed the priest provided an alibi for a person suspected of playing a prominent role in the atrocity.

Fr James Chesney died in 1980

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has not identified the priest, but he is believed to be Father James Chesney, who died in 1980.

He was never questioned in connection with the attack which the IRA denied carrying out.

Police reopened the case at the beginning of October after a letter emerged alleging that Father Chesney was involved in the bombings.

Sinn Fein's Mitchel McLaughlin agreed with unionists that there may be a case for an inquiry into the events surrounding the 1972 IRA bombing.

He said the relatives of those killed had the same right as the families of those killed on Bloody Sunday to find out what happened to their loved ones.

Mr McLaughlin's comments followed a call by Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble for a public inquiry into the bombing.