CONVICTED BOMBER HAD NO PART IN OMAGH ATTACK
Convicted bomber 'had no part' in Omagh attack
Tribunal witness offers to take lie detector test
A CONVICTED IRA bomber has offered to take a lie detector test to prove he was not involved in the Omagh bombing or got information from a garda in the Republic. Patrick Joseph Blair, also known as 'Mooch', told the Smithwick Tribunal yesterday it was simply a coincidence he received a short phone call from members of the Real IRA on the day they planted the 1998 bomb.
The tribunal is investigating possible Garda collusion in the double murder of two senior RUC officers more than two decades ago.
RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were killed in an IRA ambush near Jonesborough, Co Armagh, on their way back from a meeting at Dundalk Garda station on March 20 1989.
Blair admitted he was a member of the IRA's south Down unit but denied he was part of another unit that interrogated suspected informers or handed out punishment attacks.
Blair was named as being involved in the Omagh bombing by Peter Keely. a Newry man also known as Kevin Fulton, who claimed he was recruited from the British army before being sent back to Northern Ireland to work as a British agent within the IRA.
Mr Keely also claimed Blair had meetings with a garda officer who worked in Dundalk station.
"I had no part in any shape or form in the Omagh bombing,- Blair said.
"Kevin Fulton is a liar and I would take a lie detector test in relation to the Omagh bomb. I would prefer if he took one as well."
Blair said he was in a pub and a bookmaker's shop on the day the two RUC officers were murdered. He said he only learned of the killings later that evening.
He also denied he ever got any help from a garda officer.
"No garda ever assisted me or to my knowledge anyone." he said.
"The garda were not pro-republican to my knowledge."
Later Blair was confronted outside the tribunal by the daughter of a man murdered by the IRA In 1990.
Kenneth Graham, a Kllkeel businessman who supplied building materials to the security forces, died after a bomb exploded under his car on April 27 1990.
His daughter Manya Dickinson criticised Blair for refusing to answer any questions about the bombing and simply smiling.
"That's what we have to put up with, him laughing and knowing that," she said.
"It's not good enough. Something has to be done for victims of IRA violence and this is awful - that man laughed In my face."
Tribunal witness offers to take lie detector test
A CONVICTED IRA bomber has offered to take a lie detector test to prove he was not involved in the Omagh bombing or got information from a garda in the Republic. Patrick Joseph Blair, also known as 'Mooch', told the Smithwick Tribunal yesterday it was simply a coincidence he received a short phone call from members of the Real IRA on the day they planted the 1998 bomb.
The tribunal is investigating possible Garda collusion in the double murder of two senior RUC officers more than two decades ago.
RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were killed in an IRA ambush near Jonesborough, Co Armagh, on their way back from a meeting at Dundalk Garda station on March 20 1989.
Blair admitted he was a member of the IRA's south Down unit but denied he was part of another unit that interrogated suspected informers or handed out punishment attacks.
Blair was named as being involved in the Omagh bombing by Peter Keely. a Newry man also known as Kevin Fulton, who claimed he was recruited from the British army before being sent back to Northern Ireland to work as a British agent within the IRA.
Mr Keely also claimed Blair had meetings with a garda officer who worked in Dundalk station.
"I had no part in any shape or form in the Omagh bombing,- Blair said.
"Kevin Fulton is a liar and I would take a lie detector test in relation to the Omagh bomb. I would prefer if he took one as well."
Blair said he was in a pub and a bookmaker's shop on the day the two RUC officers were murdered. He said he only learned of the killings later that evening.
He also denied he ever got any help from a garda officer.
"No garda ever assisted me or to my knowledge anyone." he said.
"The garda were not pro-republican to my knowledge."
Later Blair was confronted outside the tribunal by the daughter of a man murdered by the IRA In 1990.
Kenneth Graham, a Kllkeel businessman who supplied building materials to the security forces, died after a bomb exploded under his car on April 27 1990.
His daughter Manya Dickinson criticised Blair for refusing to answer any questions about the bombing and simply smiling.
"That's what we have to put up with, him laughing and knowing that," she said.
"It's not good enough. Something has to be done for victims of IRA violence and this is awful - that man laughed In my face."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/1059
Published Date: 30-Nov-11
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