45th anniversary of La Mon House bombing

That this House notes with sadness the 45th anniversary of the incendiary La Mon bombing attack by the Provisional IRA on the 17 February 1978; further notes this has been described as one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles and that the attack created a fireball, killing 12 people and injuring 30 more, many of whom were severely burnt and treated at the Ulster Hospital; highlights that the IRA may have been targeting RUC officers they believed were meeting in a restaurant that night, but had got the wrong date and that the RUC officers had taken place exactly a week before, but there can never be a justification for a bomb in this place and manner; underlines the struggle emergency services had with identification due to excessive fire damage and that a Belfast man Robert Murphy, received 12 life sentences in 1981 for the murder of those killed; expresses disappointment that he was freed from prison on license in 1985 and justice was never truly served; and reminds the victims and their families that this atrocity will never be forgotten.