Panel to probe fresh Omagh claims

The Omagh bomb left 29 people dead

A panel of three senior civil servants has been set up by the justice department in the Republic of Ireland to examine allegations about the Omagh bomb investigation.

On Wednesday, it emerged that the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan had met the Republic's Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowan to discuss claims that information about the investigation had been withheld.

A statement from the Ombudsman's office said information had come from a Garda officer about events leading up to the atrocity.

It said the material related to matters in the Republic of Ireland and had been passed to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.

Co-operation

Twenty-nine people, including children and a pregnant woman, died and more than 200 people were injured in the dissident republican bombing.

It was the biggest single loss of life in 30 years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan died in the bomb, said both governments needed to work together on the investigation.

"We were told in the face of it that there was fantastic co-operation between both governments and both police forces stood up and said how much co-operation they had," he said.

"I think the information we have has shown us that the reality is something quite different."

Representatives of some of the families of those killed in the bombing are to meet the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, on Thursday.

They are to press the government on the lack of co-operation between the authorities on both sides of the border, in bringing those responsible for the attack to justice.

Only one person in the Republic of Ireland - Colm Murphy - has been convicted in connection with the bombing.