GARDA FAILED TO ACT ON TIP OFF ABOUT OMAGH BOMB
Garda 'failed to act on tip off about Omagh bomb
A SUSPENDED detective in the Republic has claimed senior officers failed to act on his tip off about plans for the Real IRA bomb attack on Omagh.
Speaking during a court case in which he was cleared of planting a shotgun at a Traveller encampment in Donegal in a bid to frame a group of men for murder, 51-year-old John White, from Ballybofey, reiterated an allegation claiming that Assistant Commissioner Dermot Jennings said top brass in the force had decided to let one through - an allegation denied by AC Jennings.
Mr White, who handled an important informer in the mid-1990s who had links to dissident republicans and the Real IRA, told the court that in August 1998 he passed on information to An Garda Siochana secure intelligence unit in Dublin that a car had been ordered to carry a bomb for detonation in Omagh.
Weeks after Mr White claims the detail was handed over, the market town was devastated by dissident republican paramilitaries.
Thirty-one people, including unborn twins, died in the atrocity.
Mr White, whose undercover work helped thwart a string of terrorist attacks in the North, said, "I have consistently claimed that I have handed good, top class intelligence to a number of officers in our job in a 14-day period coming up to it (the Omagh bomb). I stand by that."
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan died in the Real IRA bomb in Omagh, was in the public gallery during White's trial. Speaking after the verdict, Mr Gallagher said he had always been convinced John White was telling the truth about Omagh.
"It was very important for the Omagh families to listen to what John White had to say and of course others," Mr Gallagher said. "We are totally convinced that there is a very real element of truth about what John White has said about the days before Omagh."
Mr Gallagher reiterated his call for a public inquiry spanning both Northern Ireland and the Republic.
He also said that the Omagh families had never been given the opportunity to discuss Mr White's allegations with Asst Com Jennings, nor did he believe they would ever get the chance. But he went on, "Surely there must be more to the questions he (Mr White) has raised about Omagh than what the authorities are telling us.
"I think it was one of the major difficulties that Garda authorities in Dublin had with John White that he was asking very real questions that people needed answers to."
A SUSPENDED detective in the Republic has claimed senior officers failed to act on his tip off about plans for the Real IRA bomb attack on Omagh.
Speaking during a court case in which he was cleared of planting a shotgun at a Traveller encampment in Donegal in a bid to frame a group of men for murder, 51-year-old John White, from Ballybofey, reiterated an allegation claiming that Assistant Commissioner Dermot Jennings said top brass in the force had decided to let one through - an allegation denied by AC Jennings.
Mr White, who handled an important informer in the mid-1990s who had links to dissident republicans and the Real IRA, told the court that in August 1998 he passed on information to An Garda Siochana secure intelligence unit in Dublin that a car had been ordered to carry a bomb for detonation in Omagh.
Weeks after Mr White claims the detail was handed over, the market town was devastated by dissident republican paramilitaries.
Thirty-one people, including unborn twins, died in the atrocity.
Mr White, whose undercover work helped thwart a string of terrorist attacks in the North, said, "I have consistently claimed that I have handed good, top class intelligence to a number of officers in our job in a 14-day period coming up to it (the Omagh bomb). I stand by that."
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan died in the Real IRA bomb in Omagh, was in the public gallery during White's trial. Speaking after the verdict, Mr Gallagher said he had always been convinced John White was telling the truth about Omagh.
"It was very important for the Omagh families to listen to what John White had to say and of course others," Mr Gallagher said. "We are totally convinced that there is a very real element of truth about what John White has said about the days before Omagh."
Mr Gallagher reiterated his call for a public inquiry spanning both Northern Ireland and the Republic.
He also said that the Omagh families had never been given the opportunity to discuss Mr White's allegations with Asst Com Jennings, nor did he believe they would ever get the chance. But he went on, "Surely there must be more to the questions he (Mr White) has raised about Omagh than what the authorities are telling us.
"I think it was one of the major difficulties that Garda authorities in Dublin had with John White that he was asking very real questions that people needed answers to."
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE HERALD
Ref: TYH/035
Published Date: 31-Jul-06
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