The full Nally Report into the Omagh bombing cannot be published for security reasons, the Minister for Justice told the Dáil today. Mr McDowell also warned that the "Real IRA" was planning more bomb attacks similar to the 1998 atrocity.
Mr McDowell said he intended to publish an edited version of the Nally report following completion of a criminal prosecution. He warned that publishing the report now would mark the end of those criminal proceedings "and that would have its own implications".
Mr Michael McDowell
Of the threat posed by the "Real IRA", the Minister said the group is "as we speak, planning to do another bomb of this type [Omagh]. They have made effort after effort to put together bombs of this kind.
"My first duty must be to prevent another Omagh, and therefore not to put into the public domain something which assists them in changing their modus operandi so the next time they can get away with it", Mr McDowell told the Dáil.
Accepting the families' desire to obtain as much information as possible, the Minister said "it is simply not a sustainable proposition that the victims of crime have a right to all information irrespective of its implications for national security, the rule of law and the rights of others".
The report found there was no truth in allegations that the Garda failed to give information to the RUC that could have prevented the Omagh bombing.
The investigation, led by Mr Dermot Nally, found that allegations levelled by a Donegal-based garda detective sergeant, Det Sgt John White, that the "Real IRA" bombing of Omagh in 1998 could have been prevented did not stand up to scrutiny
Mr Enda Kenny, leader of Fine Gael, asked Mr McDowell whether a new inquiry into the atrocity could be initiated - based on the model adopted by Canadian judge Peter Cory who examined allegations of collusion in some of the most controversial killings during the Northern Ireland troubles.
"It is simply not a sustainable proposition that the victims of crime have a right to all information irrespective of its implications for national security, the rule of law and the rights of others," Mr Kenny said.
Mr McDowell replied the Cory investigation "operated on the basis of an absence of statutory powers. If you don't have statutory powers there is only so far that you can go."
He added that a tribunal of inquiry like the Mahon or Moriarty tribunals "would be wholly unsuitable for this because they are required to operate in public and you just couldn't have a public tribunal dealing with this kind of material".
Mr McDowell was then asked about the "failure" to interview a key witness who "is currently being protected by this State under the Witness Protection Scheme".
The Minister for Justice disputed this and pointed out that a number of efforts were made to obtain information from the witness. He said "point of a witness protection programme was that is that person's anonymity is fully respected".
Mr McDowell also stressed that the investigation into the atrocity remained open.
But Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said Government should give the families more information, and believes it would be possible to do so. "It was possible for the Ombudsman in Northern Ireland to provide the families most affected by the Omagh tragedy with a considerable amount of information," he said.
"I strongly believe the Government must find a way to provide the families with as much information as is possible, without compromising the undoubtedly valid arguments relating to sensitive security material."
Speaking to reporters later the Taoiseach defended his absence from the Dáil for the discussions on the Nally report.
"This morning the Minister for Justice was handling the debate in the Dáil and was reporting on the Nally report, which he is responsible for," Mr Ahern said.
"I wouldn't normally be in the Dail for every debate. No Taoiseach ever has. But I was in Omagh yesterday. I think I'd be more help to the people in Omagh, meeting and talking to them in Omagh."
Yesterday some of the relative of the Omagh bomb victims snubbed the Taoiseach during his visit to the talk. Instead they travelled to Dublin to meet Mr Kenny after Mr Ahern said he could only spare a short time to hold discussions with them.
But this afternoon, Mr Ahern defended his treatment of the victims' families by saying: "If every time I had a meeting with Omagh families I had a photocall, I'm afraid I wouldn't get too many journalists turning up because I meet them so many times. But I will continue to do that."
