Omagh relatives criticise Minister over report delay

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has been criticised by relatives of those who died in the Omagh bombing for his failure to release at least a summary of a report into allegations that gardaí failed to act on intelligence that might have helped prevent the atrocity.

Frustrated members of the relatives’ campaign group claimed after a meeting with the minister yesterday that he refused “point blank” to discuss the report, compiled by a three man government-appointed team. The report was handed over to the minister last month, 16 months after the team, led by Dermot Nally, was first appointed to investigate the allegations.

Omagh Support Group chairman Michael Gallagher said they had been led to believe by the Department of Foreign Affairs that the families would be given a briefing or a summary after the report had been completed and handed over. He described the trip as a complete waste of time.

Mr McDowell said: “I told them that I will make a statement in the first instance to Dáil Eireann and I would not be making any further statement before then. I don’t think it was a complete waste of time. I think it was very valuable from my point of view to hear their concerns.”

He said that if certain information and intelligence was released publicly it would damage the fight against the Real IRA.

Relatives suspect the delays in compiling the report and releasing details are because some of its findings are embarrassing, though they also complained about the make up of the three man team, claiming it was too close to the Government.

An investigation began in May 2002 after information was passed on to the Government by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan. Her investigators had been put in touch with a Detective Sergeant John White following the publication of its report in to the RUC handling of the investigation.

A member in Donegal and with acknowledged expertise investigating subversives, Det Sgt White, in three days of interviews with Ms O’Loan’s investigators, alleged he passed on information that the Real IRA were planning a car bomb attack on an unspecified target just days before Omagh.

His informant, he said, was a car thief who had been asked to acquire a vehicle by a man known to be a member of the Real IRA. A few days before August 15, the thief, regarded as a reliable informant by senior gardaí, was told a car had been acquired elsewhere.

Det Sgt White says he passed this on to a senior garda but claims to have been told that because there was no tracking device attached to the car “they would let this one go”. This information was not passed on to the then RUC, which in turn shipped severe criticism in an ombudsman’s report for a crippling lack of communication between its branches that led to a failure to follow up on intelligence that might have prevented the bombing.