OMAGH RELATIVES URGE BROWN OVER BOMBING TAPES
Omagh relatives urge Brown over bombing tapes
BY COLIN O'CARROLL
c.ocarroll@newsletter. co.uk
OMAGH bomb relatives are calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to tell the intelligence services to hand over recordings and transcripts following claims that mobile phones being used by the bombers in the run-up to the attack were being tapped.
Mr Brown was in Northern Ireland yesterday to try and use his influence to break the current political deadlock.
The Omagh families want him to be put under pressure by Assembly members to press the intelligence services to reveal all they knew about the bombing.
Relatives of the 29 people killed in the bomb, including a woman pregnant with twins, called a Press conference yesterday following the screening of a television programme on Monday night which claimed the security services were listening in to the bombers in the lead-up to the blast.
They called on the Government to "do the right thing" and hand over all recordings and transcripts of phone conversations of the Real IRA bombers monitored by the GCHQ listening centre at Cheltenham in London.
Omagh Support and Self-Help Group spokesman Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan died in the blast, said the Panorama programme screened on Monday night showed the people responsible for the atrocity were under electronic surveillance.
He said the Government had a moral duty to hand over all material recorded at GCHQ to help the families in their civil case against the men they believe responsible.
The families have given the authorities a week to comply or they will launch legal action and subpoena individuals to force them to hand over the material.
Mr Gallagher said they didn't want to say who they planned to take action against until the need arose. He also called on individuals within the intelligence services at the time who listened to the recordings and read the transcripts to come forward and tell what they know, saying the families would "stand by them" and give them legal protection.
Mr Gallagher said the grieving families wouldn't give up until they got the truth.
"The Government can't wriggle out of this one," he said.
They also plan to ask the Irish and Spanish governments, who also lost citizens in the bomb, what they plan to do given the latest revelations.
"It's of such significance that we have to keep the pressure on the Government and through our legal team we will take advice on the best way forward, but as families we will be raising questions in the House of Commons, in the Dail and in the Spanish parliament."
Mr Gallagher said he believed there could be a number of reasons why the intelligence services were so reluctant to hand over the information, including the possibility of an agent in the Real IRA, rivalry between different secret service branches and a flawed strategy of holding on to information to prevent future attacks.
Stanley McComb, who lost his wife Anne in the bombing, said local politicians should be putting pressure on Mr Brown to tell the intelligence services to come clean.
"There should be a lot of MLAs and Press asking him for his reaction to the programme last night, and I think if he doesn't give it, he should be embarrassed."
Mr McComb said he "lived in hope" that the Government would act under moral pressure, rather than having to go down the legal route to force disclosure.
The relatives' solicitor, Jason McHugh, said there were several legal avenues open to the families if the intelligence services and the Government sought to hide behind immunity orders and the Official Secrets Act.
He said as the information about the electronic eavesdropping capability was now in the public domain, there was no legal reason the Government should not reveal what it overheard.
Mr McHugh said: "We wrote to GCHQ in 2001 asking if they had any information and they didn't even reply - I'd like to see them defend that in a court."
Mr Gallagher said the families would also be writing to the PSNI Chief Constable to ask if there was any criminal act, such as withholding information or perverting the course of justice, as the material was also not passed to the RUC during its investigation of the bombing.
BY COLIN O'CARROLL
c.ocarroll@newsletter. co.uk
OMAGH bomb relatives are calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to tell the intelligence services to hand over recordings and transcripts following claims that mobile phones being used by the bombers in the run-up to the attack were being tapped.
Mr Brown was in Northern Ireland yesterday to try and use his influence to break the current political deadlock.
The Omagh families want him to be put under pressure by Assembly members to press the intelligence services to reveal all they knew about the bombing.
Relatives of the 29 people killed in the bomb, including a woman pregnant with twins, called a Press conference yesterday following the screening of a television programme on Monday night which claimed the security services were listening in to the bombers in the lead-up to the blast.
They called on the Government to "do the right thing" and hand over all recordings and transcripts of phone conversations of the Real IRA bombers monitored by the GCHQ listening centre at Cheltenham in London.
Omagh Support and Self-Help Group spokesman Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan died in the blast, said the Panorama programme screened on Monday night showed the people responsible for the atrocity were under electronic surveillance.
He said the Government had a moral duty to hand over all material recorded at GCHQ to help the families in their civil case against the men they believe responsible.
The families have given the authorities a week to comply or they will launch legal action and subpoena individuals to force them to hand over the material.
Mr Gallagher said they didn't want to say who they planned to take action against until the need arose. He also called on individuals within the intelligence services at the time who listened to the recordings and read the transcripts to come forward and tell what they know, saying the families would "stand by them" and give them legal protection.
Mr Gallagher said the grieving families wouldn't give up until they got the truth.
"The Government can't wriggle out of this one," he said.
They also plan to ask the Irish and Spanish governments, who also lost citizens in the bomb, what they plan to do given the latest revelations.
"It's of such significance that we have to keep the pressure on the Government and through our legal team we will take advice on the best way forward, but as families we will be raising questions in the House of Commons, in the Dail and in the Spanish parliament."
Mr Gallagher said he believed there could be a number of reasons why the intelligence services were so reluctant to hand over the information, including the possibility of an agent in the Real IRA, rivalry between different secret service branches and a flawed strategy of holding on to information to prevent future attacks.
Stanley McComb, who lost his wife Anne in the bombing, said local politicians should be putting pressure on Mr Brown to tell the intelligence services to come clean.
"There should be a lot of MLAs and Press asking him for his reaction to the programme last night, and I think if he doesn't give it, he should be embarrassed."
Mr McComb said he "lived in hope" that the Government would act under moral pressure, rather than having to go down the legal route to force disclosure.
The relatives' solicitor, Jason McHugh, said there were several legal avenues open to the families if the intelligence services and the Government sought to hide behind immunity orders and the Official Secrets Act.
He said as the information about the electronic eavesdropping capability was now in the public domain, there was no legal reason the Government should not reveal what it overheard.
Mr McHugh said: "We wrote to GCHQ in 2001 asking if they had any information and they didn't even reply - I'd like to see them defend that in a court."
Mr Gallagher said the families would also be writing to the PSNI Chief Constable to ask if there was any criminal act, such as withholding information or perverting the course of justice, as the material was also not passed to the RUC during its investigation of the bombing.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/775
Published Date: 17-Sep-08
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