Irish Justice Minister expects co-operation with bomb inquiry

THE Irish Government’s Justice Minister has said that a key Memorandum of Understanding with regards to the release of key documents relating to the 1998 Omagh bombing should be signed within the coming weeks.

Jim O’Callaghan was speaking at a Cross-Border Conference on Serious and Organised Crime in Belfast on Monday.

The Public Inquiry into the atrocity – which claimed the lives of 31 people – will resume on June 23.

Last month, Counsel to the Omagh Bombing Inquiry, Paul Greaney KC, said that they had met with the Irish Government to discuss disclosure issues.

He added that the contents of a draft memorandum of understanding regarding the disclosure of potentially relevant Irish state materials had now been reviewed.

Speaking in Belfast this week, the Irish Justice Minister said that the Government in Dublin remained commited to fully cooperating with the inquiry.

“We’re in the final stages of concluding a memorandum of understanding in respect of the provision of information to that inquiry,” he said.

“If new legislation is required, it will be enacted in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

“The Taoiseach and the Tanaiste are fully committed to that cooperation with the inquiry and our assessment is that the best way to establish the truth as to what happened is for there to be one inquiry rather than two parallel inquiries.

“I suppose the objective behind people who are calling for an inquiry in the Republic is to ensure there is compellability and to ensure that information is provided.

“We are fully committed to ensuring that witnesses can give evidence before the Omagh inquiry in Northern Ireland and that all relevant information is provided. So, because of that, I don’t see the necessity of having parallel inquiries ,but it is something we will keep under review.”

Mr O’Callaghan said that he certainly expects the Memorandum of Understanding to be completed before the inquiry starts again on June 23.

On that date, opening statements will be provided by core participants, including the PSNI, legal representatives for the families and the then Chief Constable of the RUC, Ronnie Flanagan.

assembly motion

In a separate development, the NI Assembly this week passed an Ulster Unionist motion calling on the Irish Government to start its own public inquiry into the atrocity.

Former UUP leader Doug Beattie said that the commitment to new legislation would be ‘pointless’ if it did not include powers to compel witnesses from the Republic to attend the ongoing inquiry into the bombing.

UUP MLA Robbie Butler said that there was absolutely no reason why the Dublin Government should not provide the absolute truth for victims of terrorism.