The public inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing will not begin examining the atrocity itself until next year due to the “pace of disclosure”, a senior lawyer has said.
In opening remarks on Monday, Paul Greaney KC, senior counsel to the inquiry, said he had “hoped and expected to be further advanced than we are”.
He said chapter three of the inquiry, which “will consider the bombing itself”, would commence in March of next year.
“That gap of nine months between Chapter Two and Chapter Three is unfortunate, in our view, and is a further consequence of the pace of disclosure to the inquiry,” Mr Greaney said.
Live updates: Trump warns Israel ‘do not drop those bombs’ on Iran amid ‘ceasefire violations’ on both sides
A New Zealander in Dublin: ‘It feels like people work to live here as opposed to living to work’
The D4 farmers: Why the rich are buying up land to avoid inheritance tax
Israel-Iran ceasefire announcement shows Trump’s uncanny ability to shape the narrative
“The speed of disclosure to the inquiry by material providers must increase, and that is why we repeat the need for the state core participants and indeed all material providers to work at pace to fulfil the requirements of the inquiry and to ensure that the necessary resources, both human and financial, are dedicated to that work.”
A total of 31 people, including unborn twins, died and hundreds were injured when a car bomb planted by the dissident republican group the Real IRA exploded in the centre of Omagh on August 15th, 1998.
The inquiry, which opened last year, was ordered by the UK government in the wake of a court judgement to examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by British state authorities.
During a four-week sitting in the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh earlier this year, the inquiry heard emotional testimony from bereaved relatives who delivered pen portraits of their loved ones, as well as from the injured and first responders.
It resumed on Monday for two days to hear opening statements from core participants to the inquiry. The core participants include the bereaved and injured and state authorities including the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Northern Secretary.
Stephen Toal KC, representing the families of five of the victims of the bombing – Brenda Logue, Gareth Conway, Breda Devine, Fernando Blasco Baselga and Veda Short – and 11 survivors – appealed to all those involved to “let this inquiry be worthy” of them.
“Let it show that even after horror, justice is possible. Even after decades of silence, the truth can still be heard,” he said.
Mr Toal was critical of both the Irish and British governments, saying “talk is cheap”
“They make warm statements about solidarity, but these families have learned to measure words against deeds,” he said.
In an opening statement on behalf of the PSNI, Philip Henry KC outlined the work done thus far by the police and emphasised it had “consistently demonstrated its commitment to assisting the inquiry.”
He said the volume of work involved to provide the required documents and evidence to the inquiry was “considerable” and not only has the PSNI established a new team to do so, but it has taken the “unprecedented step of temporarily reassigning every suitably qualified member of staff capable of researching sensitive materials from the 1990s” to work on the inquiry for a six-month period.
The examination of sensitive materials can only be undertaken by specialist researchers and was “painstaking work”, the barrister said, adding there were also challenges in gathering information from 25 years ago.
None of this was an excuse, Mr Henry said, but rather “a candid explanation of what is involved, so that expectations are realistic about how quickly it is possible to reliably meet the inquiry’s requirements.”
Fiona Fee KC, representing the Northern Secretary, also outlined the efforts made regarding disclosure by UK government agencies, including intelligence services, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).
She said a “considerable volume of work” has already been undertaken, and that continues “at pace”, but added that there was a “vast volume of material which must be collated, carefully reviewed and provided to the inquiry.”
In regard to “the UK intelligence community [Ukic],” Ms Fee said, “there is only a very limited amount that can be said in open in respect of [its] disclosure, however Ukic have engaged meaningfully with the inquiry from a very early stage, assisting the inquiry with relevant materials in advance of any formal … requests.”
At the NIO there was a “small but dedicated team working tirelessly on identifying and disclosing potentially relevant material,” she said.
