Govt accused of delaying on Omagh DNA samples

The Irish Government was responsible for a 15-month delay in handing over DNA samples on Omagh bomb suspects to investigating detectives in the North, it was claimed tonight.

As senior Northern Ireland police commanders stressed their garda colleagues did not cause any cross-border hold-up, unionists accused the Dublin authorities of denying access for political reasons.

Representatives of the North’s policing board were told the request went through legal checks before officers trying to hunt down the dissident republicans who murdered 29 people in the August 1998 massacre were given the material.

Both Chief Constable Hugh Orde and his assistant in charge of crime operations, Sam Kinkaid, insisted gardaí had not been slow to respond.

Mr Kinkaid told a meeting of the scrutinising body in Armagh city: “We see nothing to indicate Garda themselves played a role in this delay. There have been other considerations but my feeling is it clearly wasn’t them.”

Mr Orde later told how any request for evidence from another country was a complicated process.

Although he refused to attribute any blame, he said: “There clearly has been a delay.

“Whether the delay could have been shorter is a matter for speculation.”

The police chiefs’ assessment provoked Democratic Unionist policing board member Sammy Wilson to launch a scathing attack on the Irish Government.

He said: “It was quite clear this request had to go from the UK government to the Irish Government and that it stuck with the Department of Justice in the Republic.

“It was political considerations that delayed this for 15 months because as soon as the Garda were given the go-ahead from the Department of Justice they personally delivered the samples to police in Northern Ireland.”

The East Antrim MLA questioned the Dublin administration’s commitment to catching the Real IRA terrorists behind the worst single atrocity in the history of the Northern Ireland troubles.

“They always have a political eye out when it comes to dealing with terrorists, probably because they are fearful of the effect it has on their own society.

“They said they would do everything to hunt down the perpetrators of the Omagh bomb, yet they wrangled for 15 months, agonising over what to do and this raises serious questions about their real commitment.”