The Northern Ireland Ombudsman hit back tonight over a demand for her resignation for ordering an inquiry into the police handling of Omagh bomb atrocity.
Mrs Nuala O'Loan claimed: "It would not be in the interests of either the public, or the police, for such specific and damaging allegations to be ignored."
Even though RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan has categorically denied a claim that his officers ignored an informer's warning of a major attack in Northern Ireland 48 hours before the Omagh outrage, the Ombudsman has decided to have her own investigation.
The former Ulster Unionist MP Ken Maginnis, now Lord Drumglass, today called for Mrs O'Loan to resign.
He claimed: "She is moving into an area that is so complex, that it illustrates her lack of understanding."
Security sources tonight confirmed that the man who made the claim that the Real IRA bomb was being assembled by a dissident republican paramilitary two days before the August 1998 attack, once worked for the intelligence services.
The former agent, who uses the pseudonym Mr Kevin Fulton, will be interviewed by officials working for the Ombudsman.
Mrs O'Loan said tonight: "It is regrettable that some politicians have chosen to react so negatively to my decision. Investigations of this sort are highly sensitive, and carry a huge significance for everyone."
Some of the relatives of the 29 who were killed in the Omagh bomb three years ago have backed the Ombudsman decision.
But Lord Drumglass said her inquiry was unnecessary.
"There is clear evidence that the information given to the police at the time of the explosion in Omagh was inadequate and misleading. Anyone, or any organisation that distracts attention from the enormity of the Real IRA's claim is naive and foolish."
Former RUC Detective Chief Supt Eric Anderson, who headed the RUC probe, as well as some of his senior officers on the case are also expected to be interviewed.
But the Chief Constable has already insisted his men were unaware of any advance threat.
Mr Fulton claimed he told his police handlers a bomb was being made and allegedly passed on the terrorist's identity and the registration number of the bomber's car but the security services, including the military and MI5, had failed to react.
PA