MI5 'ROLE ON OMAGH' QUERIED
MI5 'role on Omagh' queried
By Michael McHugh
THE Chief Constable is to be quizzed Over MI5 involvement in the Omagh bombing during his first formal meeting with victims' relatives today.
The showdown with the Omagh Support and Self-Help Group follows alarm about the role of the secret services in the months before the August 1998 Real IRA explosion which killed 29 people.
It emerged in February that an agent told MI5 that dissidents were targeting Omagh four months before the bomb that killed 29, but the warning was not passed on to the RUC.
Self-Help Group spokesman Michael Gallagher said: "We are going to be asking Hugh Orde to tell us the truth about the MI5 involvement, about Paddy Dixon, about how the investigation is going.
"We think it is long overdue that the Chief Constable and his officers explore any leads which they may have and bring this investigation to a close."
Nobody has ever been convicted for the dissident republican bombing, although one man faces trial later this year and Mr Gallagher said it was important that the seven-year investigation produced results.
Meanwhile, the campaign by dissident republicans for the return of their prisoners to Ireland has been supported by one of the Omagh bomb victims.
Victor Barker lost his son James in the blast and he has now backed calls for prisoners held in England or Scotland to be repatriated to Ireland.
Mr Barker said the hardship imposed on families forced to travel to England to visit their relatives was the key issue,
"I don't think the families should be penalised, I think it would be wrong for innocent members of their family to have to suffer, otherwise I think these groups will be able to exploit this issue," he said.
By Michael McHugh
THE Chief Constable is to be quizzed Over MI5 involvement in the Omagh bombing during his first formal meeting with victims' relatives today.
The showdown with the Omagh Support and Self-Help Group follows alarm about the role of the secret services in the months before the August 1998 Real IRA explosion which killed 29 people.
It emerged in February that an agent told MI5 that dissidents were targeting Omagh four months before the bomb that killed 29, but the warning was not passed on to the RUC.
Self-Help Group spokesman Michael Gallagher said: "We are going to be asking Hugh Orde to tell us the truth about the MI5 involvement, about Paddy Dixon, about how the investigation is going.
"We think it is long overdue that the Chief Constable and his officers explore any leads which they may have and bring this investigation to a close."
Nobody has ever been convicted for the dissident republican bombing, although one man faces trial later this year and Mr Gallagher said it was important that the seven-year investigation produced results.
Meanwhile, the campaign by dissident republicans for the return of their prisoners to Ireland has been supported by one of the Omagh bomb victims.
Victor Barker lost his son James in the blast and he has now backed calls for prisoners held in England or Scotland to be repatriated to Ireland.
Mr Barker said the hardship imposed on families forced to travel to England to visit their relatives was the key issue,
"I don't think the families should be penalised, I think it would be wrong for innocent members of their family to have to suffer, otherwise I think these groups will be able to exploit this issue," he said.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1003
Published Date: 03-Apr-06
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