Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Government will, obviously, consider all these issues. The Deputy is right that we have not got to the end of this matter. The end will come only when we get successful prosecutions against the people who perpetrated the bombing in Omagh and killed, injured and maimed so many people, affecting many families for the rest of their lives. The issue continues.

I have dealt with this matter over a long period and I remember the events fairly well. I will make a few points. The Nally report asked Mr. Dixon to co-operate with it, but he did not at the time. What he has done since, I cannot recall. I recall that it has been raised in the House a number of times that he tried to contact people here to put his side of the case. My recollection is that at the time the Nally report asked Mr. Dixon for his co-operation but he did not do so.

I do not think I have ever met Sam Kincaid, but I am sure he is a fine policeman and his record shows that. If his intelligence sources did not tell him something, I have no comment to make on that. If MI5 did not tell the PSNI about the information it had, I have no comment to make on that. Previous to that, however, long before the explosion, MI5 gave information to the Garda Síochána. The Deputy may recall there were a number of interceptions that summer and a number of incidents, including people being arrested leaving Ireland by ferry. The information the Garda got was acted on and a bomb that was in preparation was dealt with. That was hugely significant at the time.

I am not aware of any information, but I will check again. It appears there are two issues. The Deputy says that Sam Kincaid said his sources did not give him information and my information has always been that the information we got was acted on. I do not believe there was any other information. That was my understanding.

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