Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 14: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his response to the statement of assistant chief constable Mr. Sam Kinkaid of the PSNI to the Omagh bomb victims to the general effect that the Garda Síochána had withheld from the RUC information it received from an informant that might have assisted in preventing that bomb attack and, in particular, that the Garda Síochána knew from its informant that a car had been stolen for an attack on Northern Ireland but had not intervened for fear of blowing its cover; if he accepts that assertion and if it can be reconciled with the findings of the Nally committee which inquired into and reported on the same matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9689/06]

Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if the Nally committee, which inquired into certain allegations raised by a person (details supplied) in relation to Garda intelligence and its potential relevance to the Omagh bomb, was made aware of the fact that this person's informant had more than once permitted the gardaí to place bugs in cars they stole for the Real IRA; if not, the reason therefor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9688/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 and 24 together.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to clarify matters in relation to a range of media reports concerning the Omagh bombing and related matters, many of which serve only to confuse rather than clarify.

I would like to deal first with the reported comments of assistant chief constable Sam Kinkaid who gave a briefing to the Omagh relatives on 22 February last. I am informed by the British authorities that Mr. Kinkaid's briefing focused on the current status of the Omagh investigation. I am also informed that, contrary to media speculation, at no stage during the briefing did Mr. Kinkaid suggest that the gardaí had failed to prevent dissident republican attacks in Northern Ireland in order to protect the identity of an informant. However — and this is where confusion may have arisen — I am further informed that Mr. Kinkaid did refer to a number of allegations made by a person which subsequently became the subject matter of inquiry by the so-called Nally Group.

The Deputies will be aware that the Nally Group was established by my predecessor to examine the issues raised in a report submitted by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland in 2002. This report related to allegations made by the person in question concerning the handling of intelligence information about the activities of a paramilitary group in that year and about drug-related matters in 1995 and 1996. The Nally Group reported in 2003 and concluded that there was no foundation for the allegations which it examined.

There have been repeated media reports that one of the allegations under inquiry by the Nally Group was to the effect that the gardaí failed to pass on information to the then RUC which could have prevented the Omagh bombing. I have repeatedly informed the House that, in fact, no such allegation was made to the Nally Group. On this point, the group says:

The core allegations . . . . about events preceding the Omagh bombing are that:

—a senior Garda officer would have been prepared, if a vehicle had in fact been stolen . . . to allow it to go through in order to protect [an] informant; and

—no intelligence was passed to the RUC about information, alleged to have been received on the eve of Omagh that the RIRA, who had been trying to steal a vehicle in the Dublin area, had obtained one elsewhere (place, vehicle type and destination unspecified).

These are very serious allegations. However they are quite different from allegations that the Gardaí let the vehicle which was used in the bombing in Omagh go through or that they had intelligence about that vehicle . . . which they had failed to pass on to the RUC. No such allegations have been made to the Group and no basis for any such allegations has come to its attention.

As I have already stated, the Nally Group dismissed the allegations which were in fact made as being without foundation.

I do not propose to go into the detail of matters relating to covert surveillance techniques which may or may not have been conducted by the Garda Síochána in any instance, for obvious reasons of national security.

I can also inform the House that the Garda Commissioner and the Chief Constable of the PSNI are in contact about this matter and I expect that the Commissioner will report to me on the outcome of those contacts.