FRED WHITE was 60 in 1998.

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern has welcomed the landmark ruling and a £1.6 million (€1.84m) compensation award in the Omagh bombing civil action against former Real IRA leader Michael Mc-Kevitt and three other men.

Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims today won a landmark multi-million pound civil action against four men they blamed for the atrocity in which 29 people died.

Omagh bomb relatives will today learn the verdict in their multimillion-pound legal action against those they blame for the killings.

The verdict in a multi million legal action against five men accused of the Omagh bombing will be delivered tomorrow.

AMUSING as it was to find a typical Swiftian nutshell encapsulating in a quatrain the perennial shenanigans of the builders opening Seamus McKenna’s analysis of what ails us (Letters, February 3), I think he does the good dean less than justice when he claims “he had less to say about economists, probably because Adam Smith had not yet invented that particular branch of study”.

JONATHAN SWIFT wrote those lines in 1703, so it would seem builders have long enjoyed their reputation.

The British government faces legal action within a week if it does not hand over intelligence files which could have helped catch the Omagh bombers, grieving relatives warned today.

Senior gardaí were today accused of turning a blind eye to allegations that a top officer wanted to bury an email casting doubt on the credibility of an FBI informant.

Senior gardaí were today accused of turning a blind eye to allegations that a top officer wanted to bury an email casting doubt on the credibility of an FBI informant.

Phone records involving a convicted Real IRA member being sued by the families of the Omagh bomb victims should not be used in evidence as it breaches privacy rights, a court heard today.

A senior detective who investigated the Omagh bombing bent the rules when probing other serious crimes, a court heard today.

A photograph of one of five men accused of carrying out the Omagh bombing stuck out like a sore thumb in an identification album, it was claimed in court today.

One of the men accused of carrying out the Omagh bombing told detectives the loss of innocent lives was a disaster, a Dublin court heard today.

A landmark civic court case against five men accused of carrying out one of the worst atrocities in the North will reopen in Dublin today.

A senior garda attempted to block a statement which claimed he had no concerns about terrorism in the North, the Omagh civil action case heard today.

Dissident Republicans planned to ship weapons and ammunition from the US to a school in Donegal, the Omagh civil court case heard today.

AN UNDERGROUND room concealed in a cupboard was discovered in the house of one of five men accused of being responsible for the most lethal bomb of the conflict in the north, a court heard yesterday.

Surveillance officers who followed the movements of a terrorist boss accused of being responsible for the most lethal bomb of the North's conflict today denied putting their heads together to make statements.

A British judge will rule in an Irish courtroom today as the landmark civil action claim over the Omagh bombing takes another groundbreaking step.

The alleged leader of the Real IRA was lured into the eye of a garda surveillance unit by an FBI spy as officers followed his movements in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing, a court heard today.

Legal argument today delayed the start of a landmark lawsuit against alleged terrorists accused of carrying out the Omagh bombing.

The Omagh bomb civil action must not become a private trial, the judge said today during legal discussion on what evidence should be heard in open court.

MORE than a dozen extra gardaí are to be called to give evidence at the Omagh bomb civil case, it was revealed yesterday.

More than a dozen extra gardaí are to be called to give evidence at the Omagh bomb civil case, it was revealed today.

POLICE officers yesterday relived the horror of the Omagh bombing as they gave evidence in the civil action being taken by victims of the atrocity against the five men they believe responsible for the Real IRA attack.

The Omagh bombing was "a massacre of the innocents", the opening day of a multimillion-pound civil action against five men believed to be responsible heard today.

A civil legal action against those accused of plotting a bomb attack which killed 29 people will start today.

A civil legal action against those accused of plotting the most lethal bomb of the North's conflict begins tomorrow in Belfast.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the families and victims of the 1998 Omagh bombing are entitled to the transcripts and books of evidence used in the trials of five men at the Special Criminal Court as part of a civil case being brought against the five in the North.

Transcripts and books of evidence used in the trials of five men at the Special Criminal Court are "intensely relevant" to a civil action being brought against them in the North by victims of the 1998 Omagh bombing, the Supreme Court heard today.

The Supreme Court will hear an appeal later this week against the High Court ruling that the families of some victims of the 1998 Omagh bombing are entitled to certain, but not all, of the documentation they had been seeking from five persons to be used in proceedings for damages against the five in the Northern Ireland courts.

One of the five people facing a civil action by relatives of the Omagh bombing victims has won his battle for full legal aid in defending the case.

Judgment has been reserved in a High Court action brought by the families of some victims of the 1998 Omagh bombing aimed at securing documents from five persons to be used in proceedings for damages against the five in the Northern Ireland courts.

The families of some of those killed in the Omagh bombing are seeking the discovery of documentation from five individuals who have appeared before the Special Criminal Court and are being sued for damages arising out of the 1998 explosion that killed 29 people, the High Court in Dublin heard today.

Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims today welcomed a judge’s determination to start their multi-million pound civil action against those they believe responsible for the Real IRA atrocity.

The former chair of the Garda Complaints Board today said he regretted not being able to fully investigate claims of corruption and harassment among members in Donegal.

Former Taoiseach John Bruton today denied trying to silence one of his TDs who led a campaign to help a Donegal family expose garda corruption.

GARDAÍ who investigated the 1998 Real IRA bombing in Omagh will not testify in a civil action by relatives of those who died.

A landmark civil action brought by relatives of people killed in the Omagh bomb has been scheduled in the High Court for April next year, it emerged today.

The Director of Public Prosecutions failed today in his bid to have prison sentences increased on two men, including a man being sued in connection with the 1998 Omagh bomb, who were jailed after gardaí discovered a major bomb making operation near the border.

BRITISH Government funding to help the Omagh families take civil action against those they believe were responsible for the Omagh bombing has been stopped following an action by Real IRA man Michael McKevitt.

British government funding to help the Omagh families take civil action against those they believe were responsible for the Real IRA bomb which killed 29 people has been put on hold, a court was told today.

A SUSPECTED republican dissident, arrested by armed detectives, was carrying a loaded handgun when he was picked up on a Cork street.