SERIOUS QUESTIONS MUST BE ANSWERED
Serious questions must be answered
OMAGH BOMB: The Chief Constable must address the allegations publicly and urgently
Leaks of the Ombudsman's criticism of the investigation into the Omagh bombing were worrying enough, but the actual report was much worse. Seldom has there been such a sweeping condemnation of the professionalism of any police force in a key test of its ability to detect crime.
The Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, has reacted to the condemnation with characteristic vigour, but many questions have been raised about the RUC that must be answered in every detail.
Public confidence in the new service has been damaged, within weeks of its foundation, and will only be restored if either the criticism can be refuted or the flaws that have been alleged are corrected. The very public row that has broken out between the Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, and Sir Ronnie must not be allowed to obscure the fact that the guilty parties were the Real IRA. If mistakes were made, on the lines suggested, they might not have been deterred, or they might have struck elsewhere. After the event, however, the public was led to believe that everything possible was being done to pursue the perpetrators. If this was not the case, as the report alleges, the investigation must begin again, with fresh impetus. Those who planned and planted the bomb, whose names are known, must not escape justice. Basically, the police have been accused of incompetence, ranging from their failure to respond to warnings of terrorist activity to a breakdown in communications between Special Branch and an inadequate CID team and to non-cooperation with the Ombudsman's officials.
The report is a long litany of complaints, which demand answers from the Chief Constable, and yet no explanations have been forthcoming, even in broad-brush terms.
Sir Ronnie may have been justified in asking for more time and Mrs O'Loan could be accused of rushing to print. But the reputation of the reconstituted police service, as it struggles to find its feet, is at stake and the public must be convinced that remedial action is being taken.
No police force in the world has faced such a long period of strain as the RUC has, and none has absorbed so many root-and-branch reforms so well. The Omagh investigation is special, however, not just because it concerns the worst single outrage of the troubles, but because so many eyes are upon it, not least the suffering relatives of the 29 dead.
Sir Ronnie has a duty to tell the public that if there are, as alleged, flaws in procedures - in the transfer of information before and after terrorist attacks - they will be dealt with. And if there are errors of facts and judgment in the report, as he alleges, they must be set out plainly, and corrections supplied. At all events, another costly, unsatisfactory public inquiry must be avoided.
OMAGH BOMB: The Chief Constable must address the allegations publicly and urgently
Leaks of the Ombudsman's criticism of the investigation into the Omagh bombing were worrying enough, but the actual report was much worse. Seldom has there been such a sweeping condemnation of the professionalism of any police force in a key test of its ability to detect crime.
The Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, has reacted to the condemnation with characteristic vigour, but many questions have been raised about the RUC that must be answered in every detail.
Public confidence in the new service has been damaged, within weeks of its foundation, and will only be restored if either the criticism can be refuted or the flaws that have been alleged are corrected. The very public row that has broken out between the Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan, and Sir Ronnie must not be allowed to obscure the fact that the guilty parties were the Real IRA. If mistakes were made, on the lines suggested, they might not have been deterred, or they might have struck elsewhere. After the event, however, the public was led to believe that everything possible was being done to pursue the perpetrators. If this was not the case, as the report alleges, the investigation must begin again, with fresh impetus. Those who planned and planted the bomb, whose names are known, must not escape justice. Basically, the police have been accused of incompetence, ranging from their failure to respond to warnings of terrorist activity to a breakdown in communications between Special Branch and an inadequate CID team and to non-cooperation with the Ombudsman's officials.
The report is a long litany of complaints, which demand answers from the Chief Constable, and yet no explanations have been forthcoming, even in broad-brush terms.
Sir Ronnie may have been justified in asking for more time and Mrs O'Loan could be accused of rushing to print. But the reputation of the reconstituted police service, as it struggles to find its feet, is at stake and the public must be convinced that remedial action is being taken.
No police force in the world has faced such a long period of strain as the RUC has, and none has absorbed so many root-and-branch reforms so well. The Omagh investigation is special, however, not just because it concerns the worst single outrage of the troubles, but because so many eyes are upon it, not least the suffering relatives of the 29 dead.
Sir Ronnie has a duty to tell the public that if there are, as alleged, flaws in procedures - in the transfer of information before and after terrorist attacks - they will be dealt with. And if there are errors of facts and judgment in the report, as he alleges, they must be set out plainly, and corrections supplied. At all events, another costly, unsatisfactory public inquiry must be avoided.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0808
Published Date: 13-Dec-01
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