WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT GCHQ HEARD
We need to know what GCHQ heard'
BY ASHLEIGH McDONALD
THE Omagh Support and Self Help Group has demanded that the families of those who lost loved ones in the bombing be given access to the material allegedly recorded by GCHQ.
Chairman Michael Gallagher said: "We haven't seen the programme yet but we had a briefing with John Ware on Saturday and we have a fair idea of the content.
"Like everybody else, we will be watching the programme for the first time on Monday evening, but there is no doubt that if this material does exist, and I believe it does, then the families should be given access to it so we can see for ourselves exactly what happened and what went wrong."
Former Police ombudsman Nuala O'Loan caused controversy in 2001 when she publicly stated - after conducting a full investigation into the police handling of Omagh - that intelligence warnings from security force agents were not handled properly.
Reacting to the allegations in the Panorama programme, she said: "There are a very limited number of access routes to Omagh town, and if they came to the view that that was where a device was being taken, it would seem to me there could have been roadblocks set up.
"Roadblocks in the past have had the effect of deterring people who would have planted bombs. They would have seen this and would have just abandoned the bombs by the roadside."
The SDLP's Alex Attwood said the allegations were a "serious development" and added: "It reopens fundamental questions about what happened before and after the Omagh bomb."
Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay said: "It is disgraceful that there is no parliamentary oversight of the intelligence and security services."
BY ASHLEIGH McDONALD
THE Omagh Support and Self Help Group has demanded that the families of those who lost loved ones in the bombing be given access to the material allegedly recorded by GCHQ.
Chairman Michael Gallagher said: "We haven't seen the programme yet but we had a briefing with John Ware on Saturday and we have a fair idea of the content.
"Like everybody else, we will be watching the programme for the first time on Monday evening, but there is no doubt that if this material does exist, and I believe it does, then the families should be given access to it so we can see for ourselves exactly what happened and what went wrong."
Former Police ombudsman Nuala O'Loan caused controversy in 2001 when she publicly stated - after conducting a full investigation into the police handling of Omagh - that intelligence warnings from security force agents were not handled properly.
Reacting to the allegations in the Panorama programme, she said: "There are a very limited number of access routes to Omagh town, and if they came to the view that that was where a device was being taken, it would seem to me there could have been roadblocks set up.
"Roadblocks in the past have had the effect of deterring people who would have planted bombs. They would have seen this and would have just abandoned the bombs by the roadside."
The SDLP's Alex Attwood said the allegations were a "serious development" and added: "It reopens fundamental questions about what happened before and after the Omagh bomb."
Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay said: "It is disgraceful that there is no parliamentary oversight of the intelligence and security services."
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1109
Published Date: 15-Sep-08
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