The alleged leader of the Real IRA was lured to a Garda surveillance unit by an FBI spy as officers followed his movements after the Omagh bombing, a court heard today.
Michael and Patsy Gallagher, who lost their son Aiden in the Omagh bomb,
Legal argument earlier delayed the start of a lawsuit, chaired by District Court Judge Conal Gibbons, against alleged terrorists accused of carrying out the Omagh bombing.
The civil case over the 1998 atrocity heard Michael McKevitt and David Rupert, who infiltrated the group, met at a Dundalk housing estate as officers watched on.
A member of the National Surveillance Unit told the case, which was hearing evidence at a District Court sitting in Dublin, that spotting McKevitt at a possible meeting was a good day’s work.
Det Sgt Thomas Finbarr Healey said he saw the pair talk for five minutes in the garden of a house in Oakland Park on February 18th, 2001.
Kieran Vaughan QC, junior counsel for McKevitt, who disputed the allegation, asked the officer if he had any evidence to support his testimony.
The garda, the first witness to give evidence since the case moved to the Republic, said he recorded what he saw on hand-held recorder and copied them to a personal computer but had not kept a copy of either.
Det Sgt Healey said that looking back, he believed Rupert lured McKevitt outside for the gardaí. “I think Mr Rupert was being very good and lured them out the door,” he said.
“I often wonder, did he create the opportunity for us? People don’t usually hang around and just talk.”
The bombing, the worst atrocity during the Troubles, killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins. Hundreds more were injured when the Real IRA bombed the Co Tyrone town on a busy Saturday afternoon in August 1998.
The court action, taken by the families affected, moved to Dublin under 2001 EU legislation.
Although no one has been convicted for the atrocity, named on the lawsuit are the alleged leader of the Real IRA, McKevitt, the man said to be his number two, Liam Campbell, and Colm Murphy, Seamus McKenna and Seamus Daly.
All deny any involvement.
The only man to be charged with the Omagh murders is not among those accused by the families.
Sean Hoey, a South Armagh electrician, walked free from Belfast Crown Court last December after a judge acquitted him of all charges related to the bombing and a host of other Real IRA attacks.
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son, Aidan, died in the blast, today sat in the public benches close to the family of Lorraine Wilson, who was just 15 when she was killed in the bomb attack.