Irish government accused of ignoring ‘pain’ of Omagh families

SOME of those bereaved by the 1998 Omagh bombing have expressed their grave concerns about the absence of what they describe as crucial documentation held by the British and Irish state authorities in relation to the atrocity which claimed the lives of 31 people.

Senior counsel, Alan Kane KC, today said that the families and injured whom he represented were ‘sick and tired of platitudes, false assurances, broken promises’ and the ‘grand but empty words’ of the Republic, including their refusal to institute a parallel inquiry.

Speaking during hearings at the Silverbirch Hotel, he also hit out at the disappearance of a ‘Threat Book’ completed by the RUC at the time of the bombing, and asked whether political dynamics relating to the Good Friday Agreement had led to circumstances which had made the preventability of the Market Street attack an ‘impossibility to a greater or lesser degree.’

He also said that records of Security Policy Meetings attended by the Secretary of State and other senior representatives including the Chief Constable, the general officer commanding of the army and the director of intelligence within the army were missing for both 1997 and 1998.

“The reality of this seems as staggering as it is incredible. It is hard to imagine a more high-level set of meetings to discuss security and intelligence considerations and policy touching upon the lives of the citizens of Northern Ireland in the years 1997 and 1998 and yet no record of those meetings exits.”

Mr Kane said the absence of those documents was ‘appalling’ and went on to accuse the Irish government of ‘ignoring the pain and plight of the Omagh families.’

He described as a ‘cynical effort’ the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by the Irish government in relation to the disclosure of key intelligence documents to appear to be assisting and co-operating with the bombing Inquiry.

Mr Kane then added that limitations on the inquiry’s ability to compel witnesses to attend from the Republican had made the Memorandum of Understanding ‘redundant.’

“To add insult to injury, even if inadvertently, the existence of a relevant document is made know to this Inquiry and such a document is duly requested, the unilateral power of redaction remains with the government of the Ireland.

“This will be applied to all documents as the state authorities of the Republic of Ireland see fit before such documents even cross the border to this inquiry.”