MINISTER ANGERS OMAGH FAMILIES
Minister angers Omagh families
Meeting was waste of time say victims' relatives
By CHRIS PARKIN
RELATIVES of the victims of the 1998 Omagh bomb yesterday attacked as "a waste of time" a two-and-a-half-hour meeting in Dublin with Irish justice minister Michael McDowell.
The families asked the minister to make public the findings of the Nally report, which was ordered by his department to investigate allegations that Irish police had prior knowledge of a terrorist attack in Northern Ireland shortly before the Omagh bombing.
But Mr McDowell refused to discuss the issue.
An angry spokesman for the relatives' group, Michael Gallagher, whose son died in the blast, said: "The main issue we wanted to talk about was the Nally report.
"But the minister point blankly refused to discuss it at all. He said he would speak to the Dail when it meets again, but would not talk about any aspect of the Nally report.
"We would not have been here today if we had thought we were not going to talk about it. He has certainly wasted our time.
"It was our understanding that, after the minister received the report, he would talk to the families about it. But he would not."
Mr Gallagher said the minister had told the delegation that he had made a commitment to the Dail to speak there first.
He added: "We made the point that it would be more appropriate to the speak to the families than to a bunch of politicians.
"We had a very difficult job to press him to agree to allow us to come back after he has delivered his speech to the Dail. He was very reluctant to do that, but agreed he would meet us at some time."
A total of 29 people, including a woman who was pregnant with twins, died in the bombing and more than 200 were injured.
Yesterday's meeting follows the weekend's charging of Armagh man Sean Gerard Hoey, 34, with possessing explosives and membership of the RIRA, the dissident group that claimed responsibility for the bomb.
So far, only one person, Co Louth man Colm Murphy, has been convicted in connection with the bombing.
Lawyers acting for families of the victims have requested that the Irish government provide transcripts from that trial, as well as other proceedings and permission for Irish police witnesses to travel to Belfast to give evidence in a civil action they are taking against five men in relation to the Omagh atrocity.
Later, Mr McDowell said that his first responsibility was to the Irish parliament and the people of Ireland and that he would report to the Dail on the contents of the Nally report.
The minister said he understood the families' frustration at not being able to get as much information as they wanted.
But he said the RIRA represented the number one security threat to the state and he was not going to damage the fight against the terrorist group by putting intelligence and information into the public domain.
Meeting was waste of time say victims' relatives
By CHRIS PARKIN
RELATIVES of the victims of the 1998 Omagh bomb yesterday attacked as "a waste of time" a two-and-a-half-hour meeting in Dublin with Irish justice minister Michael McDowell.
The families asked the minister to make public the findings of the Nally report, which was ordered by his department to investigate allegations that Irish police had prior knowledge of a terrorist attack in Northern Ireland shortly before the Omagh bombing.
But Mr McDowell refused to discuss the issue.
An angry spokesman for the relatives' group, Michael Gallagher, whose son died in the blast, said: "The main issue we wanted to talk about was the Nally report.
"But the minister point blankly refused to discuss it at all. He said he would speak to the Dail when it meets again, but would not talk about any aspect of the Nally report.
"We would not have been here today if we had thought we were not going to talk about it. He has certainly wasted our time.
"It was our understanding that, after the minister received the report, he would talk to the families about it. But he would not."
Mr Gallagher said the minister had told the delegation that he had made a commitment to the Dail to speak there first.
He added: "We made the point that it would be more appropriate to the speak to the families than to a bunch of politicians.
"We had a very difficult job to press him to agree to allow us to come back after he has delivered his speech to the Dail. He was very reluctant to do that, but agreed he would meet us at some time."
A total of 29 people, including a woman who was pregnant with twins, died in the bombing and more than 200 were injured.
Yesterday's meeting follows the weekend's charging of Armagh man Sean Gerard Hoey, 34, with possessing explosives and membership of the RIRA, the dissident group that claimed responsibility for the bomb.
So far, only one person, Co Louth man Colm Murphy, has been convicted in connection with the bombing.
Lawyers acting for families of the victims have requested that the Irish government provide transcripts from that trial, as well as other proceedings and permission for Irish police witnesses to travel to Belfast to give evidence in a civil action they are taking against five men in relation to the Omagh atrocity.
Later, Mr McDowell said that his first responsibility was to the Irish parliament and the people of Ireland and that he would report to the Dail on the contents of the Nally report.
The minister said he understood the families' frustration at not being able to get as much information as they wanted.
But he said the RIRA represented the number one security threat to the state and he was not going to damage the fight against the terrorist group by putting intelligence and information into the public domain.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/491
Published Date: 09-Sep-03
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