OMAGH FAMILIES DEMAND INQUIRY
Omagh families demand inquiry
By Valerie Robinson
Southern Correspondent
OMAGH bomb relatives have demanded a new independent inquiry be carried out into allegations gardai withheld information from the RUC before the 1998 attack.
The families of those killed in the Real IRA bombing spoke last night after the Republic's justice minister, Michael McDowell, revealed that the Nally report had found no evidence of impropriety on the part of gardai.
In a statement to the Dail the minister said the long-awaited report would not be made public. He said that the report contained information which would be of use "only to paramilitary terrorists".
It had been claimed that days before the August 15 bombing a Garda Special Branch informer had passed on information about a car stolen by dissident republicans to his handler - a Dublin-based garda.
Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan was told by a suspended officer that gardai failed to relay the intelligence to the RUC.
Stanley McCombe, spokesman for the Omagh relatives, rejected the report findings and said families would only be satisfied when an inquiry, independent of the state, was carried out.
By Valerie Robinson
Southern Correspondent
OMAGH bomb relatives have demanded a new independent inquiry be carried out into allegations gardai withheld information from the RUC before the 1998 attack.
The families of those killed in the Real IRA bombing spoke last night after the Republic's justice minister, Michael McDowell, revealed that the Nally report had found no evidence of impropriety on the part of gardai.
In a statement to the Dail the minister said the long-awaited report would not be made public. He said that the report contained information which would be of use "only to paramilitary terrorists".
It had been claimed that days before the August 15 bombing a Garda Special Branch informer had passed on information about a car stolen by dissident republicans to his handler - a Dublin-based garda.
Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan was told by a suspended officer that gardai failed to relay the intelligence to the RUC.
Stanley McCombe, spokesman for the Omagh relatives, rejected the report findings and said families would only be satisfied when an inquiry, independent of the state, was carried out.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0615
Published Date: 17-Dec-03
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