Families of Omagh to seek cross-border inquiry from Shatter

Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims are to meet Irish Justice Minister Alan Shatter tomorrow to press home demands for a cross-border inquiry into the 1998 atrocity.

They will hand over an independent report of a specially commissioned review of all the investigations and court cases held since the Real IRA bombing which claimed the lives of 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed, and who is heading the delegation at the Dail, said: “The report has not produced any new evidence which will bring the perpetrators before the courts. All the information available to us has been analysed and as a result of that we are alarmed at the conclusions drawn by the authors.”

The British Government received a copy of the report a month ago and, although full details have not been disclosed, it is understood the findings are highly critical of the intelligence agencies as well as the investigative work by some senior RUC/PSNI and Garda officers.

No-one has ever been convicted of the murders.

The families are also seeking a joint meeting with Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford and PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott.

One of the report’s authors, Martin Bridger, a former head of investigations at the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman’s Office when Nuala O’Loan was in charge, will be accompanying the delegation.

Mr Gallagher said: “There are some very difficult and sensitive issues for the British and Irish Governments to deal with in this report.”