Real IRA ‘plan another bombing outrage’

THE REAL IRA are planning another bomb attack similar to Omagh and have already been thwarted from doing so on several occasions, it emerged yesterday.

Speaking during the Dáil debate on the Nally Report which cleared gardaí from allegations they failed to pass on intelligence which could have averted the 1998 Omagh atrocity Justice Minister Michael McDowell claimed the Real IRA was intent on another massacre. "I emphasise that the Real IRA and the 32-County Sovereignty Committee, the political adjunct of the Real IRA, are planning, as we speak, to plant another bomb of this type," he said.

Mr McDowell said attempts to manufacture bombs similar to Omagh had already been prevented.

"They have made many efforts to put together bombs of this type and they have been frustrated and thwarted in a number of ways. They have attempted to take many people's lives and they intend to continue trying to do so," he said.

"This State, and the people of this island remain locked in a life and death struggle with the murderous group which perpetrated the Omagh slaughter. It has been thwarted since then in barbarous plans to carry out bombings of the same scale and ferocity. It plans to strike again," he continued.

Reacting to criticism over his refusal to publish even an edited version of the Nally Report, Mr McDowell said he could not do so for reasons of national security. "I cannot place in the public domain something which assists the organisations in question in changing their modus operandi, so that they can get away with it the next time."

The minister also said that an ongoing case involving the garda informant who features in the Nally Report Donegal-based Detective Sergeant John White prevented him from making any further details public.

However, the Government's decision not to release details of the report and the Taoiseach's decision not to attend yesterday's debate was criticised by opposition parties and victims of the Omagh bombing.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said he agreed that the report, which he has seen, should not be published in full. But he called for an independent investigation into the issue and said an edited version should be made available.

"It is simply not a sustainable proposition that the victims of crime have a right to all information irrespective of its implications for national security, the rule of law and the rights of others," he said. Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, who has also seen the report, said both the Taoiseach and Mr McDowell had failed to respond to requests to make an edited report available.

"Despite requests from the victims' group and from Deputy Kenny and myself, the minister and the Taoiseach have apparently felt unable to respond to those urgings," he said.

Mr Rabbitte said the Government owed the victims no less than more information on the report. "I strongly believe that the Government must find a way to provide the families with as much information as is possible. The Government can go further in this regard than it has," he said.

Defending himself against criticism that he did not turn up for Thursday's discussion Bertie Ahern said: "I wouldn't normally be in the Dáil for every debate. No Taoiseach ever has. But I was in Omagh yesterday. I think I'd be more help to the people in Omagh, meeting and talking to them in Omagh," he said.