WHAT GARDAI TOLD AHERN AFTER OMAGH BLAST
WHAT THE GARDAI TOLD AHERN AFTER THE OMAGH BLAST�
EXCLUSIVE
By JILLY BEATTIE
A security operation has gone WRONG.. dozens are dead
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was told hours after the Omagh bomb that a Garda Special Branch security operation had gone wrong leaving dozens dead, it has been revealed.
His head of intelligence disclosed to him the elite unit had failed to give the RUC vital information about the car carrying the 500lb.
The shocking revelation will be put to Mr Ahern today in a crunch meeting with five relatives of the 31 victims.
They want to know why the Garda's intelligence blunder has been kept secret and will demand an immediate public inquiry.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the 1998 Omagh atrocity, said the Taoiseach must stop "running scared" of the truth.
He added: "We now know that on the evening of August 15, 1998, Bertie Ahern met with the head of intelligence and was told, 'An operation has gone wrong and and dozens of people are dead.'
"He is frightened of the truth coming out. But it isn't going to change what happened to my son and 30 other people that day.
"It won't affect the outcome of a deadly bomb planted in Omagh, but it will affect people's confidence in Bertie Ahern and his leadership and I believe that's what he's running- from."
The families will also tell Mr Ahern they want a public hearing along the lines of Lord Hutton's swift assessment into Dr David Kelly's suicide.
The inquiry was ordered by Prime Minister Tony Blair and took just 56 days.
Mr Gallagher and other furious relatives snubbed the Taoiseach during his brief visit to Omagh on February 19, when they were offered a 15-minute meeting after Mr Ahern met the local Boy Scouts Association.
Mr Gallagher said: "We've been told the Omagh bomb was not the scandal of the Troubles, it was the scandal of the century and we want to know why.
"The Taoiseach has to face up to his part in the problem which we'll live with for the rest of our lives. Bertie Ahern has taken the side of terrorism for too long and worked to make the ordinary, decent people of this country do the same by accepting terrorists into a political process.
"He has sat back and encouraged us to work with Sinn Fein and the IRA. But now Sinn Fein is biting at his political heels and will give his party a run for their money in the up coming elections in the
Republic.
"The Taoiseach was happy to work with them until they started knocking on his back door and now he has started complaining about the IRA.
"Well it's time for him stand up to these people once and for all."
EXCLUSIVE
By JILLY BEATTIE
A security operation has gone WRONG.. dozens are dead
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was told hours after the Omagh bomb that a Garda Special Branch security operation had gone wrong leaving dozens dead, it has been revealed.
His head of intelligence disclosed to him the elite unit had failed to give the RUC vital information about the car carrying the 500lb.
The shocking revelation will be put to Mr Ahern today in a crunch meeting with five relatives of the 31 victims.
They want to know why the Garda's intelligence blunder has been kept secret and will demand an immediate public inquiry.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the 1998 Omagh atrocity, said the Taoiseach must stop "running scared" of the truth.
He added: "We now know that on the evening of August 15, 1998, Bertie Ahern met with the head of intelligence and was told, 'An operation has gone wrong and and dozens of people are dead.'
"He is frightened of the truth coming out. But it isn't going to change what happened to my son and 30 other people that day.
"It won't affect the outcome of a deadly bomb planted in Omagh, but it will affect people's confidence in Bertie Ahern and his leadership and I believe that's what he's running- from."
The families will also tell Mr Ahern they want a public hearing along the lines of Lord Hutton's swift assessment into Dr David Kelly's suicide.
The inquiry was ordered by Prime Minister Tony Blair and took just 56 days.
Mr Gallagher and other furious relatives snubbed the Taoiseach during his brief visit to Omagh on February 19, when they were offered a 15-minute meeting after Mr Ahern met the local Boy Scouts Association.
Mr Gallagher said: "We've been told the Omagh bomb was not the scandal of the Troubles, it was the scandal of the century and we want to know why.
"The Taoiseach has to face up to his part in the problem which we'll live with for the rest of our lives. Bertie Ahern has taken the side of terrorism for too long and worked to make the ordinary, decent people of this country do the same by accepting terrorists into a political process.
"He has sat back and encouraged us to work with Sinn Fein and the IRA. But now Sinn Fein is biting at his political heels and will give his party a run for their money in the up coming elections in the
Republic.
"The Taoiseach was happy to work with them until they started knocking on his back door and now he has started complaining about the IRA.
"Well it's time for him stand up to these people once and for all."
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/202
Published Date: 11-Mar-04
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