MANDY: O'LOAN REPORT EXTREME
Mandy: O'Loan report extreme
By GEMMA MURRAY
FORMER Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson has attacked Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan for displaying a "certain lack of experience and possible gullibility" in her scathing report on the Omagh bomb police investigation.
He said the report fell "below the quality and standards of objectivity and rigour required", came over as "slightly vindictive" and damaged Mrs O'Loan's credibility.
Mr Mandelson said he had decided to break his silence on the sensitive issue because of the "extreme conclusions drawn in the investigation".
He said: "It is a very, very serious subject and the Ombudsman is making the most extreme conclusions about the Chief Constable ... she is accusing him of defective leadership, poor judgment and a lack of urgency.
"That is very serious and it is because of the seriousness of those charges I have decided to speak up."
His comments came as the Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, said that her inquiry had reached "distorted conclusions".
Sir Ronnie is considering High Court action over the report which claimed that his flawed judgment had significantly reduced the chances of apprehending the terrorists who murdered 29 people.
Mr Mandelson said that Mrs O'Loan was "early on in her job".
"I think she has displayed a certain lack of experience and possibly gullibility -I know others have charged her with being naive. I think that is too strong."
Mr Mandelson said he had helped her establish the post and had advised her to "do things you can do really well".
He went on: "You have got to focus your resources in a way where you can really apply rigour to what you are doing and you must not blow your credibility.
"Well, I don't think this has been done well. I think there is insufficient rigour in the report and I am afraid her credibility has been damaged."
Ms O'Loan had toned down an earlier draft of the report, he said, adding: "So I shudder to think what it was like originally."
The whole thing was based on an informant who, the report admitted, was a "self-confessed liar", he said, adding: "He is an attention-seeker who I have known before."
Sir Ronnie repeated his assertion that the way the report was compiled went against natural justice.
"The draft report reaches very sweeping conclusions about me without me ever having been interviewed, without those conclusions ever having been put to me and without me ever having been given an opportunity to respond," he said.
"I had some interaction but certainly nobody ever told me I was under investigation, nobody ever told me there were emerging conclusions about me.
"Nobody ever put them to me and, when I received the draft, I was given one week to reply, only on factual accuracy, when I very politely wrote to request more time."
Sir Ronnie added: "If you do that, you miss glaring omissions and all those omissions and the factual inaccuracies lead to conclusions that, in my view, are absolutely distorted conclusions."
Sir Ronnie also said he regretted saying he would "publicly commit suicide" if he believed the report was correct.
He made the remark at a news conference on Wednesday following the publication of the report.
Yesterday, Sir Ronnie said: "I regret those remarks. Nothing is more precious than life but it is an indication of how deeply I felt that this was a flawed report."
LVF go-between Pastor Kenny McClinton has applauded the "courage" of Mrs O'Loan to call Sir Ronnie and the force to book.
"Justice must be done and must be seen to be done and the activities of the secret state made transparent," he said.
"The Special Branch must be made accountable for the Omagh atrocity and for failing to investigate the deaths of all those Protestants and Roman Catholics whose families have been left hanging without answers.
"I heard Ronnie Flanagan say on the media that his force has been hard done by in the report - well, I say back to him 'Join the club'
because we have all been 'hard done by' for years."
Sinn Fein MP Pat Doherty said: "The report highlights in some detail the very core of what has been wrong with policing and still is wrong with policing."
He said that claims that Sir Ronnie had no right of reply were "untrue".
"He has the document for some time to make comments and he did not make those comments," he said.
His only attitude had been that the RUC, along with Special Branch, was not accountable to democratic accountability.
"They are only answerable to himself and to MI5."
By GEMMA MURRAY
FORMER Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson has attacked Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan for displaying a "certain lack of experience and possible gullibility" in her scathing report on the Omagh bomb police investigation.
He said the report fell "below the quality and standards of objectivity and rigour required", came over as "slightly vindictive" and damaged Mrs O'Loan's credibility.
Mr Mandelson said he had decided to break his silence on the sensitive issue because of the "extreme conclusions drawn in the investigation".
He said: "It is a very, very serious subject and the Ombudsman is making the most extreme conclusions about the Chief Constable ... she is accusing him of defective leadership, poor judgment and a lack of urgency.
"That is very serious and it is because of the seriousness of those charges I have decided to speak up."
His comments came as the Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, said that her inquiry had reached "distorted conclusions".
Sir Ronnie is considering High Court action over the report which claimed that his flawed judgment had significantly reduced the chances of apprehending the terrorists who murdered 29 people.
Mr Mandelson said that Mrs O'Loan was "early on in her job".
"I think she has displayed a certain lack of experience and possibly gullibility -I know others have charged her with being naive. I think that is too strong."
Mr Mandelson said he had helped her establish the post and had advised her to "do things you can do really well".
He went on: "You have got to focus your resources in a way where you can really apply rigour to what you are doing and you must not blow your credibility.
"Well, I don't think this has been done well. I think there is insufficient rigour in the report and I am afraid her credibility has been damaged."
Ms O'Loan had toned down an earlier draft of the report, he said, adding: "So I shudder to think what it was like originally."
The whole thing was based on an informant who, the report admitted, was a "self-confessed liar", he said, adding: "He is an attention-seeker who I have known before."
Sir Ronnie repeated his assertion that the way the report was compiled went against natural justice.
"The draft report reaches very sweeping conclusions about me without me ever having been interviewed, without those conclusions ever having been put to me and without me ever having been given an opportunity to respond," he said.
"I had some interaction but certainly nobody ever told me I was under investigation, nobody ever told me there were emerging conclusions about me.
"Nobody ever put them to me and, when I received the draft, I was given one week to reply, only on factual accuracy, when I very politely wrote to request more time."
Sir Ronnie added: "If you do that, you miss glaring omissions and all those omissions and the factual inaccuracies lead to conclusions that, in my view, are absolutely distorted conclusions."
Sir Ronnie also said he regretted saying he would "publicly commit suicide" if he believed the report was correct.
He made the remark at a news conference on Wednesday following the publication of the report.
Yesterday, Sir Ronnie said: "I regret those remarks. Nothing is more precious than life but it is an indication of how deeply I felt that this was a flawed report."
LVF go-between Pastor Kenny McClinton has applauded the "courage" of Mrs O'Loan to call Sir Ronnie and the force to book.
"Justice must be done and must be seen to be done and the activities of the secret state made transparent," he said.
"The Special Branch must be made accountable for the Omagh atrocity and for failing to investigate the deaths of all those Protestants and Roman Catholics whose families have been left hanging without answers.
"I heard Ronnie Flanagan say on the media that his force has been hard done by in the report - well, I say back to him 'Join the club'
because we have all been 'hard done by' for years."
Sinn Fein MP Pat Doherty said: "The report highlights in some detail the very core of what has been wrong with policing and still is wrong with policing."
He said that claims that Sir Ronnie had no right of reply were "untrue".
"He has the document for some time to make comments and he did not make those comments," he said.
His only attitude had been that the RUC, along with Special Branch, was not accountable to democratic accountability.
"They are only answerable to himself and to MI5."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/404
Published Date: 15-Dec-01
Related Images
