MEETING WITH IRISH JUSTICE MINISTER WASTE OF TIME
Meeting with Irish Justice Minister waste of time, say Omagh bereaved
"A WASTE of time" was how relatives of the Omagh bomb victims described their visit to Dublin to meet with Irish Justice Minister, Mr. Michael McDowell, earlier this week.
The "bitterly disappointed" relatives 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.
Eleven members of the Omagh Support and Self-Help Group put the request to Mr. McDowell on Monday at a lengthy two-hour meeting.
The Minister, however, refused to discuss the inquiry, which was led by senior civil servant, Dermot Nally, saying that he would not make a statement until after the Dail resumed later this month.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Michael Gallagher, whose son, Aidan, died in the bomb, described the Irish government as being "effective in burying" the allegations.
"We are bitterly disappointed that the Minister would not talk about the Nally reports during our meeting on Monday.
"A week prior to the meeting we had faxed down an agenda listing three items for discussion. One of them was the Nally report, so therefore the Department of Justice would have known that it was something we were planning to discuss in detail.
"During the meeting we discussed the first two items, but when it came to the third - the Nally report - the Minister simply read out the same statement he had made before and refused to discuss the matter any further.
"This government has been very effective in burying these allegations for the past 18 months and what this says to me, personally, is that they will continue in trying to prevent any further discussion on it.
"The main purpose of this visit was to discuss the Nally report and if we had known prior to the meeting that he was unwilling to discuss it we would not have gone.
"The meeting lasted for two hours and during this we mainly discussed why he would not speak on the report.
"We pressed very hard, stating that we could not understand why he wouldn't talk to families first - as opposed to a bunch of politicians who have not lost a drop of blood.
"As a result we, the victims' families, will not hear for sometime what the recommendations of the report are.
"We cited the fact that when Nuala O'Loan had carried out her inquiry, we were the first people she came to, to talk about her findings, and this, we said, should have been what happened in this case," he said.
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.
"A WASTE of time" was how relatives of the Omagh bomb victims described their visit to Dublin to meet with Irish Justice Minister, Mr. Michael McDowell, earlier this week.
The "bitterly disappointed" relatives 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.
Eleven members of the Omagh Support and Self-Help Group put the request to Mr. McDowell on Monday at a lengthy two-hour meeting.
The Minister, however, refused to discuss the inquiry, which was led by senior civil servant, Dermot Nally, saying that he would not make a statement until after the Dail resumed later this month.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Michael Gallagher, whose son, Aidan, died in the bomb, described the Irish government as being "effective in burying" the allegations.
"We are bitterly disappointed that the Minister would not talk about the Nally reports during our meeting on Monday.
"A week prior to the meeting we had faxed down an agenda listing three items for discussion. One of them was the Nally report, so therefore the Department of Justice would have known that it was something we were planning to discuss in detail.
"During the meeting we discussed the first two items, but when it came to the third - the Nally report - the Minister simply read out the same statement he had made before and refused to discuss the matter any further.
"This government has been very effective in burying these allegations for the past 18 months and what this says to me, personally, is that they will continue in trying to prevent any further discussion on it.
"The main purpose of this visit was to discuss the Nally report and if we had known prior to the meeting that he was unwilling to discuss it we would not have gone.
"The meeting lasted for two hours and during this we mainly discussed why he would not speak on the report.
"We pressed very hard, stating that we could not understand why he wouldn't talk to families first - as opposed to a bunch of politicians who have not lost a drop of blood.
"As a result we, the victims' families, will not hear for sometime what the recommendations of the report are.
"We cited the fact that when Nuala O'Loan had carried out her inquiry, we were the first people she came to, to talk about her findings, and this, we said, should have been what happened in this case," he said.
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: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1670
Published Date: 11-Sep-03
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