The Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, has said the most crucial issue about the Police Ombudsman's report was that she did not conclude that the Omagh atrocity could have been prevented.
Reacting to the report, Dr Reid said he welcomed the fact that it did not detract from the guilt of those responsible for the device which killed 29 people.
"I welcome the fact the Ombudsman begins her report by saying that nothing should detract from the guilt of the evil people who planted the bomb in Omagh. I note that nowhere does she conclude that the bomb could have been prevented - this was a point I wanted to emphasise last week because it is so crucial to the families," he added.
Dr Reid said he would give both the report and the Chief Constable's reaction to it careful consideration.
"This report about the single worst atrocity of the Troubles deserves to be studied carefully. I will be taking time to look at it and to hear the response of the Chief Constable and the police and the views of the Policing Board.
"I hope others will also take time to read it without rushing to judgment or playing politics with it." The "acrimonious atmosphere" due to the leak of the Ombudsman's report had made a "calm and sensible debate very difficult", he concluded.
The Ombudsman's report should not have been published without the input of the views and evidence of the Chief Constable, the staff associations of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said last night.
They said the release of the findings could "cause serious damage to public confidence in the police service".
The statement said: "We note that the Ombudsman has concluded that the allegation by Kevin Fulton that the police mishandled his information is not credible and that this information alone would not have prevented the Omagh bombing."
It added: "We believe this view of the relevance of this intelligence is gravely flawed.
"It is clear from the Ombudsman's report that this information was from an unverified source about a different dissident republican group supposedly carrying out a different type of attack on a different target some distance from Omagh.
"Nothing has ever been uncovered to corroborate this supposed intelligence."
Nationalist politicians have described the Ombudsman's report as a "withering indictment" of the conduct of Special Branch and other senior RUC officers.
Welcoming Mrs O'Loan's report, the SDLP's policing spokesman, Mr Alex Attwood, said it demonstrated the need for new and effective structures that would ensure that the police was properly being held to account. This was critical to the delivery of a new beginning to policing, he added.
The Sinn FΘin vice-president and MP for West Tyrone, Mr Pat Doherty, said the people of Omagh would be "greatly angered" by the report's contents which were bound to "compound the families' suffering and pain".
Special Branch had long been "a force with in a force", Mr Doherty stated, adding he was planning to meet the Ombudsman, the Northern Secretary and the [Irish] Government to discuss the report in further detail.
Lord Maginnis, the former UUP MP, said Mrs O'Loan was "facilitating the agenda" of those who sought both to act as apologists for the bombing and attack Special Branch and MI5, the British security service.