UK security forces failed to act on information about Belturbet bomb that killed two children

On December 28, 1972, a no-warning car bomb killed two teenagers and injured nine others in Belturbet, while explosions also occurred in Co Monaghan and Co Donegal.

In a special documentary tonight at 9.35pm on RTE One, 'Belturbet: A Bomb That Time Forgot', will reveal a lack of trust between police services north and south.

The RTE Investigates programme will also question the political will to bring those behind the bomb to justice, and uncovered evidence that British security forces failed to act on credible information, which allowed loyalist paramilitaries to operate freely in south Fermanagh.

In the build-up to the explosion, a Ford Escort from Enniskillen passed a Garda checkpoint at Aghalane bridge on the main Enniskillen to Cavan road, and headed for Belturbet.

Patrick Stanley (16) from Clara, Co Offaly, and 15-year-old local girl Geraldine O'Reilly were killed in the blast, nine others were injured and the border town was left in chaos and destruction.

Local garage owner Paddy O'Reilly spoke to RTE and recalled the night in vivid detail.

"I got on the phone to the post office in Cavan, asked them to send as many ambulances as they could," he said. "I went back out on the street to help out as best I could.

"I got the young lad who was killed in the kiosk. I would have to go down on one knee, go down low and pulled him out. I got him out onto the footpath, I scooped in under him, lifted him out and carried him up to the showroom."

No-warning bombs also exploded in sequence in Clones, Co Monaghan, and 100 metres from the Fermanagh border in Mullinagoad, Co Donegal.

Margaret Urwin from campaign group Justice for the Forgotten, explained that very little is known about the blast in Clones as the Garda investigation file went missing.

The sister of Belturbet victim Patrick, Greta Stanley, told RTE Investigates that both Patrick and Geraldine both deserved justice but "there wasn't anything done about it".

The documentary outlines that a British Army Captain who commanded troops in west Fermanagh was asked by a unionist councillor to stay away from Aghalane bridge, which was to be bombed before Belturbet, on a particular night. RTE Investigates also discloses that British intelligence had identified a suspect of the Belturbet bomb.

Just four months after the December 28 attacks, the security forces were aware of "a UDA Commando type gang from Belfast who were believed responsible for various explosions in Eire".

Gardai have compiled six reports on Belturbet but each time the families of the victims have asked the Department of Justice for access, they are told that as the case remains active sharing information could interfere with the investigation.

"Pushed to one side, forget it happened," Greta Stanley tells the documentary. "You know, two people died. There's worse going on. It's never too late for answers. Never too late for the truth."