Orde before NI Affairs Committee

The Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde, is to give evidence later before a committee of MPs in Westminster.

He is set to address members of the Northern Ireland Affairs committee.

Sir Hugh is expected to face questions about the Omagh bombing and the Consultative Group on the Past.

The committee has expressed disquiet after the government refused its chairman the full findings of a report on the 1998 Real IRA bomb attack.

A report by Sir Peter Gibson on intercept intelligence concluded the bombing, which killed 29 people and two unborn babies, could not have been prevented and information was not withheld from police.

The Prime Minister has three times turned down the committee's requests for access.

Secretary of State Shaun Woodward and Cabinet Office Minister Tessa Jowell have also refused to let the committee's chairman, Sir Patrick Cormack, see the review.