Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

From my memory of the report, which I read carefully at the time, it is clear that the Nally report regarded Mr. Dixon as an ordinary commercial car thief who would have no intelligence of relevance to pass on. I do not know the truth of the matter. However, from my contacts in Northern Ireland, I know that the former assistant chief constable, Sam Kincaid, was and is very highly regarded and what he said is very clear. He said that his view was that both MI5 and the Garda Síochána had relevant information which was not passed on to the RUC and which, if taken together, would have placed the RUC on a much higher state of alert as far as the Omagh case was concerned. In the light of this statement, does the Taoiseach accept that the Nally report is not the final word on this matter?

We have, for example, taken up a position across this House on the matter of the Finucane case. In condemning the inadequacy of the Finucane inquiry we have sought for the British authorities to lift the veil of secrecy from their security services intelligence on the Finucane case. In this case, we know that the Omagh families and the PSNI still have questions. The former assistant chief constable said that if he had the information from MI5 and the Garda, which he did not get, that information, taken together, would have put the RUC in a position to be on a much higher state of alert.

This is an important development as the bomb in Omagh was the single worst atrocity in the history of the Troubles and it obliges us to examine the contention of a respected former senior policeman. If Mr. Hugh Orde is making a report to the British Prime Minister on the matter, the Government should consider and make a public statement on its response to this information.

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