Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

In addressing the Nally report and the Omagh bombing of 1998, our first thoughts must be with the victims, the survivors and the bereaved of that terrible atrocity. On my behalf and on behalf of my party, I again express our deepest sympathy and condolences to the Omagh families and to all those affected by the bombing. Sinn Féin said at the time, and will continue to say, that the Omagh bombing was an atrocity carried out by people whose objective was to destroy the peace process and the republican peace strategy. It was the action of a tiny splinter group that set its face against the political path endorsed by genuine republicans throughout Ireland. It had nothing to do with Irish republicanism and it set back the cause its perpetrators claimed to serve.

When statements were taken in the Dáil on the Nally report on 16 December last, my colleague Deputy Ó Caoláin pointed out that it was unsatisfactory that some parties and Independent Deputies were being asked to make statements on a report they had not seen. Some Opposition leaders, Deputies Kenny and Rabbitte, were given sight of the report but others, including my party, were denied this access. This has not been rectified in the intervening period. At that time we called for the publication of the report, but that has not happened either. Therefore, we are relying on the statements of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on 16 December and today for our information on the report. This is unsatisfactory. I will leave it at that as I do not wish to make a party political issue of this matter.

In her report on the Omagh tragedy the Police Ombudsman in the Six Counties, Nuala O'Loan, called for a review of the role and function of the RUC special branch, now of course incorporated in the PSNI. According to the Minister on 16 December, the Nally report called for "a written code of instructions and guidelines on intelligence gathering and agent handling". The report said that action has been taken on this but it should be reviewed. Nally also recommended: "consideration should be given to whether legislation covering intelligence gathering and agent handling would be desirable". These recommendations are what could be called spin-offs from the main body of the report which, we are told, finds no foundation for the allegations it examined against gardaí regarding Omagh. Nonetheless, they are recommendations which should be taken seriously and acted upon.

One only has to look at the career of the best known British agent in the Six Counties, Brian Nelson, to see the extent to which such agents played a key role in facilitating State violence against citizens. Nelson's British intelligence handlers used him to target many people for assassination, including human rights lawyer Pat Finucane. Everything was done to prevent exposing Nelson as a British agent. When he was exposed, all further avenues of inquiry were closed off. This is the familiar pattern in the use of agents by State forces in counter-insurgencies throughout the world. They are used as agents for State crimes at every level, often by ambitious police and military officers to further their personal careers, regardless of the cost in lives.

The British Government has suppressed a whole series of reports from Stalker-Sampson to Stevens and to the current report by Judge Cory because they threaten to expose its full complicity in State terror in Ireland. Publishing the Nally report would not only meet the wishes of the Omagh relatives, but would also strengthen the hand of the Government in calling on the British Government to publish its suppressed reports.

I again extend sympathy to all those affected by the Omagh bombing. I hope that, with all the deceased, the bereaved and the survivors of the conflict in our country, whether civilian or combatant, on all sides, their vindication will be a successful process of conflict resolution and the establishment, finally, of lasting and just peace in our country.

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