I WANT ALL MY QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED
I want all my questions to be answered
By IAN GRAHAM and IAN STERRETT
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has agreed to a meeting with the father of a boy killed in the Omagh bombing after months of pressure, it was confirmed last night.
The Taoiseach will have talks in December with Victor Barker, whose son, James, was killed in the 1998 Real IRA atrocity. .
By the time they meet, details of the Nally Report into allegations the Garda did not pass on to police in Northern Ireland all the intelligence information they had relating to planned Real IRA attacks ahead of Omagh should be known.
A spokeswoman for the Republic's government said Justice Minister Michael McDowell will be making a statement on the report in the Dail in the coming weeks.
Mr Barker, who moved back to England from Co Donegal after the bombing, will be pressing for details of the Nally Report and will question Mr Ahern's comments in the Dail denying that a government minister had met representatives of the Real IRA.
It emerged recently that Mr Ahern's special adviser, Dr Martin Mansergh, had held discussions with representatives of the terror group in the aftermath of the bombing.
As he prepared for the December 10 meeting in Dublin, Mr Barker said: "In Britain for the Prime Minister to provide an answer to Parliament that the Government had had no contact with a terrorist group and for it to then emerge that his special adviser did actually speak to that group would be a resignation matter. Obviously, in the Dail, it is not."
He said he would be raising with Mr Ahern the actions of the Garda in dealing with intelligence information relating to planned Real IRA attacks in Northern Ireland in 1998 and "their apparent failure to properly advise the RUC of such likely attacks".
Meanwhile, filming of a drama about the bomb atrocity which claimed the lives of 29 people, including the mother of unborn twins, is due to begin in weeks.
It is to be made by the same production team which made the award-winning Bloody Sunday and has the backing of the Omagh families.
Michael Gallagher, who is being played in the film by Omagh-born actor Gerard McSorley - who starred in the recent film about murdered journalist Veronica Guerin - said the film was a "painful but important" recreation of events on August 15,1998.
Mr Gallagher said: "The BBC's Question Time came from Omagh last week and no-one talked about the bombing. They sat in the very leisure centre in which we waited for news of our loved ones the night of the blast and no-one mentioned the bomb."
"It's as if Omagh has been airbrushed from history. If this film does anything, hopefully it will spark new interest in our cause."
Filming of the Channel 4-RTE film is to begin next month and the Omagh families are to get a final reading of the script, written by Bloody Sunday film director Paul Greengrass, before filming begins.
Cold Feet director Pete Travis and other members of the production company have kept in regular touch with the families of the people who were killed in the atrocity.
Mr Gallagher added: "It is a little bit strange meeting someone who is going to play you in a film. They can never have a surrogate for you but Gerard is not just from Northern Ireland but from Omagh and so has a direct connection with the place and an understanding of what happened here."
By IAN GRAHAM and IAN STERRETT
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has agreed to a meeting with the father of a boy killed in the Omagh bombing after months of pressure, it was confirmed last night.
The Taoiseach will have talks in December with Victor Barker, whose son, James, was killed in the 1998 Real IRA atrocity. .
By the time they meet, details of the Nally Report into allegations the Garda did not pass on to police in Northern Ireland all the intelligence information they had relating to planned Real IRA attacks ahead of Omagh should be known.
A spokeswoman for the Republic's government said Justice Minister Michael McDowell will be making a statement on the report in the Dail in the coming weeks.
Mr Barker, who moved back to England from Co Donegal after the bombing, will be pressing for details of the Nally Report and will question Mr Ahern's comments in the Dail denying that a government minister had met representatives of the Real IRA.
It emerged recently that Mr Ahern's special adviser, Dr Martin Mansergh, had held discussions with representatives of the terror group in the aftermath of the bombing.
As he prepared for the December 10 meeting in Dublin, Mr Barker said: "In Britain for the Prime Minister to provide an answer to Parliament that the Government had had no contact with a terrorist group and for it to then emerge that his special adviser did actually speak to that group would be a resignation matter. Obviously, in the Dail, it is not."
He said he would be raising with Mr Ahern the actions of the Garda in dealing with intelligence information relating to planned Real IRA attacks in Northern Ireland in 1998 and "their apparent failure to properly advise the RUC of such likely attacks".
Meanwhile, filming of a drama about the bomb atrocity which claimed the lives of 29 people, including the mother of unborn twins, is due to begin in weeks.
It is to be made by the same production team which made the award-winning Bloody Sunday and has the backing of the Omagh families.
Michael Gallagher, who is being played in the film by Omagh-born actor Gerard McSorley - who starred in the recent film about murdered journalist Veronica Guerin - said the film was a "painful but important" recreation of events on August 15,1998.
Mr Gallagher said: "The BBC's Question Time came from Omagh last week and no-one talked about the bombing. They sat in the very leisure centre in which we waited for news of our loved ones the night of the blast and no-one mentioned the bomb."
"It's as if Omagh has been airbrushed from history. If this film does anything, hopefully it will spark new interest in our cause."
Filming of the Channel 4-RTE film is to begin next month and the Omagh families are to get a final reading of the script, written by Bloody Sunday film director Paul Greengrass, before filming begins.
Cold Feet director Pete Travis and other members of the production company have kept in regular touch with the families of the people who were killed in the atrocity.
Mr Gallagher added: "It is a little bit strange meeting someone who is going to play you in a film. They can never have a surrogate for you but Gerard is not just from Northern Ireland but from Omagh and so has a direct connection with the place and an understanding of what happened here."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/527
Published Date: 17-Nov-03
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