INTELLIGENCE SERVICES BLOCK THE WAY TO THE TRUTH ABOUT OMAGH - MICHAEL GALLAGHER
Intelligence services block the way to the truth about Omagh -Michael Gallagher
BY ADRIAN MULLAN
AS the Chairman of the Omagh Self-help and Support Group, Michael Gallagher, and his fellow group member, Stanley McCombe ready themselves for a trip to the second international conference on victims of terror being held in Colombia later this month, Mr Gallagher has warned that powerful forces are at work to prevent the Omagh families getting justice.
Pressed on the matter, the soft spoken father of Adrian Gallagher who perished in the blast, said that intelligence services in the Republic and the Britain were stopping people getting at the truth as to what lay behind the bombing of Omagh.
It is expected that Mr Gallagher will be talking about the Omagh experience and the difficulty the victims' families are having in securing justice for their loved ones. People from all over the world will be attending the conference and Mr Gallagher has intimated that meeting people who have a shared experience of terror does help the individual a to a degree, "It helps that there is a certain amount of understanding and there is therapy in that."
Mr Gallagher said that, despite the fact that he had been told by a member of the Policing Board that the police have hundreds of lines of enquiry open in respect of the Omagh bombing, and despite the fact that it is still the biggest investigation ever undertaken in Northern Ireland, he feels that the absence of political will to see the matter through has been the main stumbling block.
"I wouldn't go as far as to say that I have or have not got confidence in the investigation, but after six and a half years, not one single person has been charged with murder at Omagh."
He continued, "I think that if you look at the record you will see that the authorities on both sides of the border haven't kept their word, there's a lot of evidence out there that was never collected, and there are a lot of things that should have been done that weren't done."
Just this week Mr Gallagher's organisation was advised by their solicitors that the Dublin Special Court had refused to release the transcripts of the trial and appeal of Colm Murphy - the only person actually jailed in respect of the Omagh bombing.
Mr Gallagher went on to say that Paddy Dixon - a possible key witness in the case - has not even been interviewed by the PSNI [Largely because the Gardai -which, it is believed have him on a witness protection scheme, have refused to produce him for questioning].
At the conference itself, the chairman of the Omagh group said that he will be highlighting the difficulties that the Omagh families have had in getting the authorities to live up to their promises and in getting at the truth as to the mass murder in Omagh on August 15, 1998.
Likewise, the Omagh experience in trying to take those believed to have been behind the bombing to trial at a civil court will be on the agenda.
Mr Gallagher said that if he could ask anything of the two governments at present it would be that they live up to the promises they made in August 1998 to the families of those killed and maimed. "We haven't seen a commitment by both governments to solve this crime."
The conference will last for three days and it is expected that people from the US caught up in the now infamous events of 9/11 will be in attendance, as will people from Spain and other areas recently ravaged by terror.
Returning to the issue of the intelligence services blocking progress toward justice in the case Mr Gallagher concluded "They have fine tuned the work they do, but at the end of the day we have some supernatural assistance."
BY ADRIAN MULLAN
AS the Chairman of the Omagh Self-help and Support Group, Michael Gallagher, and his fellow group member, Stanley McCombe ready themselves for a trip to the second international conference on victims of terror being held in Colombia later this month, Mr Gallagher has warned that powerful forces are at work to prevent the Omagh families getting justice.
Pressed on the matter, the soft spoken father of Adrian Gallagher who perished in the blast, said that intelligence services in the Republic and the Britain were stopping people getting at the truth as to what lay behind the bombing of Omagh.
It is expected that Mr Gallagher will be talking about the Omagh experience and the difficulty the victims' families are having in securing justice for their loved ones. People from all over the world will be attending the conference and Mr Gallagher has intimated that meeting people who have a shared experience of terror does help the individual a to a degree, "It helps that there is a certain amount of understanding and there is therapy in that."
Mr Gallagher said that, despite the fact that he had been told by a member of the Policing Board that the police have hundreds of lines of enquiry open in respect of the Omagh bombing, and despite the fact that it is still the biggest investigation ever undertaken in Northern Ireland, he feels that the absence of political will to see the matter through has been the main stumbling block.
"I wouldn't go as far as to say that I have or have not got confidence in the investigation, but after six and a half years, not one single person has been charged with murder at Omagh."
He continued, "I think that if you look at the record you will see that the authorities on both sides of the border haven't kept their word, there's a lot of evidence out there that was never collected, and there are a lot of things that should have been done that weren't done."
Just this week Mr Gallagher's organisation was advised by their solicitors that the Dublin Special Court had refused to release the transcripts of the trial and appeal of Colm Murphy - the only person actually jailed in respect of the Omagh bombing.
Mr Gallagher went on to say that Paddy Dixon - a possible key witness in the case - has not even been interviewed by the PSNI [Largely because the Gardai -which, it is believed have him on a witness protection scheme, have refused to produce him for questioning].
At the conference itself, the chairman of the Omagh group said that he will be highlighting the difficulties that the Omagh families have had in getting the authorities to live up to their promises and in getting at the truth as to the mass murder in Omagh on August 15, 1998.
Likewise, the Omagh experience in trying to take those believed to have been behind the bombing to trial at a civil court will be on the agenda.
Mr Gallagher said that if he could ask anything of the two governments at present it would be that they live up to the promises they made in August 1998 to the families of those killed and maimed. "We haven't seen a commitment by both governments to solve this crime."
The conference will last for three days and it is expected that people from the US caught up in the now infamous events of 9/11 will be in attendance, as will people from Spain and other areas recently ravaged by terror.
Returning to the issue of the intelligence services blocking progress toward justice in the case Mr Gallagher concluded "They have fine tuned the work they do, but at the end of the day we have some supernatural assistance."
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1798
Published Date: 10-Feb-05
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