McDowell strongly criticised by Omagh families

Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims have strongly criticised the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, accusing him of wasting their time after he refused to discuss the Nally report during a 2½-hour meeting in Dublin yesterday.

The Nally report was produced by a three-man committee which investigated allegations that An Garda Síochána withheld information from police in the North which it is alleged could have helped to prevent the Omagh bombing.

The relatives also said their request for financial assistance from the Government to mount a civil action against those who they believe are responsible for the bombing had been rejected.

The relatives said Mr McDowell had been inflexible, having "made his mind up about things before he walked into the room".

Mr McDowell told the relatives he would discuss the Nally report only after he addresses the Dáil on the issue. It contained intelligence on the "Real IRA" and putting it into the public domain now would weaken ongoing Garda investigations.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr McDowell said the "Real IRA" was planning atrocities "as we speak". It still represented the biggest security threat in the State, he said.

The chairman of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, Mr Michael Gallagher, said: "The main thing we wanted to discuss was the Nally report. But he refused to talk about it, we never got off the ground at all."

He added: "We had a very difficult job to press him to agree to allow us to come back after he has delivered his speech to the Dáil. He was very reluctant to do that, but agreed he would meet us at some time."

Mr Gallagher, whose son was killed in the Omagh bomb, added that while aspects of the report would probably be "difficult and embarrassing" for many, including the Irish Government, the report should be disclosed to the relatives of the dead first, and not to "politicians who have not shed one drop of blood".

It had been his understanding that Mr McDowell would disclose the contents of the report yesterday. The group would not have travelled to the meeting if they had known the Minister was unwilling to discuss the report.

The Nally report was produced by a three-man inquiry team: Mr Dermot Nally, former secretary to the government; Mr Eamon Barnes, former director of public prosecutions; and Mr Joe Brosnan, former secretary of the Department of Justice. Mr Gallagher said the team should have included individuals from other EU states or north America.

Mr Gallagher also revealed yesterday that the Government had turned down a request for funding for his group's civil action against those it believes carried out the 1998 bombing, which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

The British government has pledged £800,000, but the group said they were having cash-flow problems. Mr McDowell said that as the case was being taken outside the jurisdiction it was the duty of the British government to ensure both sides of the action were funded properly.