🔗 Share this article Officials Rule Out National Inquiry into Birmingham City Bar Explosions Ministers have rejected the idea of launching a open investigation into the Provisional IRA's 1974 Birmingham pub explosions. This Devastating Attack On 21 November 1974, 21 people were murdered and two hundred twenty injured when bombs were set off at the Mulberry Bush pub and Tavern in the Town venues in Birmingham, in an assault widely believed to have been carried out by the Irish Republican Army. Legal Aftermath No one has been sentenced over the attacks. Back in 1991, six individuals had their sentences quashed after spending over 16 years in prison in what is considered one of the gravest errors of justice in United Kingdom history. Victims' Families Fight for Justice Relatives have for decades campaigned for a national probe into the attacks to discover what the government knew at the time of the incident and why no one has been prosecuted. Official Decision The security minister, Dan Jarvis, stated on Thursday that while he had sincere compassion for the loved ones, the government had concluded “after detailed consideration” it would not establish an investigation. Jarvis stated the government believes the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery, set up to examine fatalities associated with the Northern Ireland conflict, could examine the Birmingham incidents. Campaigners Express Disappointment Activist Julie Hambleton, whose teenage sister Maxine was killed in the bombings, stated the announcement demonstrated “the administration show no concern”. The sixty-two-year-old has for years pushed for a national investigation and stated she and other grieving relatives had “no plan” of participating in the commission. “We see no real impartiality in the panel,” she said, noting it was “like them marking their own performance”. Requests for Document Release Over the years, bereaved relatives have been demanding the disclosure of documents from government bodies on the attack – specifically on what the government knew prior to and after the bombing, and what evidence there is that could bring about legal action. “The whole British establishment is against our relatives from ever discovering the facts,” she declared. “Only a legally mandated judicial national investigation will provide us entry to the documents they claim they lack.” Legal Capabilities A official public investigation has specific official capabilities, such as the ability to compel participants to appear and provide details connected to the probe. Prior Investigation An hearing in 2019 – campaigned for bereaved families – ruled the those killed were murdered by the Provisional IRA but did not determine the names of those responsible. Hambleton said: “Intelligence agencies advised the presiding official that they have absolutely no documents or evidence on what is still Britain's most prolonged unsolved atrocity of the last century, but now they want to pressure us down the route of this Legacy Commission to provide evidence that they state has never existed”. Official Criticism Liam Byrne, the MP for the local constituency, labeled the cabinet's decision as “deeply, deeply disheartening”. Through a announcement on social media, Byrne said: “After so much period, so much grief, and numerous failures” the relatives merit a mechanism that is “impartial, court-supervised, with complete capabilities and courageous in the pursuit for the reality.” Continuing Grief Reflecting on the family’s persistent pain, Hambleton, who leads the campaign group, remarked: “No family of any atrocity of any sort will ever have resolution. It is impossible. The suffering and the grief persist.”