OMAGH FAMILIES FEAR TRUTH WILL BE LOST
Omagh families fear truth will be lost if dissidents kill informer
BY RYAN McALEER
THE families of the Omagh bomb victims fear the full story surrounding the 1998 atrocity will be lost if a key Garda informer is killed by dissident republicans.
Michael Gallagher made the comments after an informer who is said to have warned gardai of a major Real IRA attack in the months before Omagh, narrowly escaped serious injury in a booby-trap pipe bomb attack on Wednesday morning.
Paddy Dixon (48) suffered facial and upper body injuries during the attack when he opened the front door of his home in Beechgrove, Navan, Co Meath. However it's understood he managed to pull back from the blast, avoiding serious injury. The Real IRA are being blamed for the revenge murder attempt.
Dixon, who supplied stolen cars to the Real IRA during the late 90s became a central figure around claims that Garda detectives failed to warn their northern counterparts about a Real IRA "spectacular" in July 1998.
Dixon's handler Garda detective John White alleged that the informer told him that he had been asked to source a Vauxhall car for a massive attack in the north just one month before the 500lb bomb ripped through Omagh on August 15.
White claimed despite passing the information further up the command line, a decision was made not to act on the intelligence, or track the stolen car. The claims which were investigated by
the Nally Inquiry, later exonerated gardai from wrongdoing.
However, alleging deficiencies with the Nally Inquiry, Mr Gallagher said, "The most startling point being they never interviewed Paddy Dixon and at that time he was on an Irish witness protection programme.
"I think if they had have interviewed him, he may have said some things which would not have sat well with the Irish Government and once he said these things, they're on record."
He continued, "They have said he declined to participate through his solicitor and they couldn't force him to appear. But it seems remarkable that a man who risked his life to assist the Irish authorities, wasn't even willing to appear privately before an inquiry into how gardai handled the intelligence."
Mr Gallagher stated, "I think Paddy Dixon has a lot to tell and he could be a very powerful witness in any future cross-border public inquiry and I think that is one of the reasons why both the British and Irish Governments are unwilling to give the families a public inquiry. Because there are people who were involved in the Omagh bomb who are being protected at the highest level by both Governments," Mr Gallagher claimed.
It had been thought that Dixon had assumed a new identity on mainland Europe. However it was reported that he had left the witness protection scheme five years ago and was living in England.
Mr Gallagher said he had been aware that the informer had been living back in Ireland for a number of years. It is believed Dixon remained under armed guard in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda over the weekend.
"It was probably inevitable that people would get to him eventually, but I think it's very important that Paddy Dixon be interviewed under oath in a public inquiry so that whatever he has to tell is told," said Mr Gallagher.
"He could just have easily have died on Wednesday morning and maybe the next time the bombers will be luckier and we will have lost an important element into the truth behind the Omagh bombing."
BY RYAN McALEER
THE families of the Omagh bomb victims fear the full story surrounding the 1998 atrocity will be lost if a key Garda informer is killed by dissident republicans.
Michael Gallagher made the comments after an informer who is said to have warned gardai of a major Real IRA attack in the months before Omagh, narrowly escaped serious injury in a booby-trap pipe bomb attack on Wednesday morning.
Paddy Dixon (48) suffered facial and upper body injuries during the attack when he opened the front door of his home in Beechgrove, Navan, Co Meath. However it's understood he managed to pull back from the blast, avoiding serious injury. The Real IRA are being blamed for the revenge murder attempt.
Dixon, who supplied stolen cars to the Real IRA during the late 90s became a central figure around claims that Garda detectives failed to warn their northern counterparts about a Real IRA "spectacular" in July 1998.
Dixon's handler Garda detective John White alleged that the informer told him that he had been asked to source a Vauxhall car for a massive attack in the north just one month before the 500lb bomb ripped through Omagh on August 15.
White claimed despite passing the information further up the command line, a decision was made not to act on the intelligence, or track the stolen car. The claims which were investigated by
the Nally Inquiry, later exonerated gardai from wrongdoing.
However, alleging deficiencies with the Nally Inquiry, Mr Gallagher said, "The most startling point being they never interviewed Paddy Dixon and at that time he was on an Irish witness protection programme.
"I think if they had have interviewed him, he may have said some things which would not have sat well with the Irish Government and once he said these things, they're on record."
He continued, "They have said he declined to participate through his solicitor and they couldn't force him to appear. But it seems remarkable that a man who risked his life to assist the Irish authorities, wasn't even willing to appear privately before an inquiry into how gardai handled the intelligence."
Mr Gallagher stated, "I think Paddy Dixon has a lot to tell and he could be a very powerful witness in any future cross-border public inquiry and I think that is one of the reasons why both the British and Irish Governments are unwilling to give the families a public inquiry. Because there are people who were involved in the Omagh bomb who are being protected at the highest level by both Governments," Mr Gallagher claimed.
It had been thought that Dixon had assumed a new identity on mainland Europe. However it was reported that he had left the witness protection scheme five years ago and was living in England.
Mr Gallagher said he had been aware that the informer had been living back in Ireland for a number of years. It is believed Dixon remained under armed guard in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda over the weekend.
"It was probably inevitable that people would get to him eventually, but I think it's very important that Paddy Dixon be interviewed under oath in a public inquiry so that whatever he has to tell is told," said Mr Gallagher.
"He could just have easily have died on Wednesday morning and maybe the next time the bombers will be luckier and we will have lost an important element into the truth behind the Omagh bombing."
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE HERALD
Ref: TYH/110
Published Date: 29-Aug-11
Related Images
