QUESTIONS LED TO BLAST INQUIRY
Questions led to blast inquiry
BY STEPHEN ALEXANDER
A SERIES of unanswered questions about how the State handled the worst atrocity of Northern Ireland's troubled past prompted today's report into the Omagh bombing.
In September 2008, the BBC's Panorama programme claimed transcripts of conversations between the bombers were not passed on to the police in Northern Ireland.
Reporter John Ware claimed the UK's secret eavesdropping agency, the Government's Communications Headquarters - better known as GCHQ - recorded mobile phone conversations between the Real IRA members responsible on the day of the bombing.
He also claimed it was possible that the bomb could have been prevented, although he stopped short of asserting that it would have been stopped.
In the aftermath, Sir Peter Gibson, the Intelligence Services Commissioner, was asked by the Prime Minister to investigate how the intelligence intercept information about the bombing was shared by the intelligence agencies and the police.
Sir Peter entirely dismissed any suggestion that GCHQs' intercept intelligence gathered could have prevented the bombing, although his full report remained classified.
BY STEPHEN ALEXANDER
A SERIES of unanswered questions about how the State handled the worst atrocity of Northern Ireland's troubled past prompted today's report into the Omagh bombing.
In September 2008, the BBC's Panorama programme claimed transcripts of conversations between the bombers were not passed on to the police in Northern Ireland.
Reporter John Ware claimed the UK's secret eavesdropping agency, the Government's Communications Headquarters - better known as GCHQ - recorded mobile phone conversations between the Real IRA members responsible on the day of the bombing.
He also claimed it was possible that the bomb could have been prevented, although he stopped short of asserting that it would have been stopped.
In the aftermath, Sir Peter Gibson, the Intelligence Services Commissioner, was asked by the Prime Minister to investigate how the intelligence intercept information about the bombing was shared by the intelligence agencies and the police.
Sir Peter entirely dismissed any suggestion that GCHQs' intercept intelligence gathered could have prevented the bombing, although his full report remained classified.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1185
Published Date: 16-Mar-10
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