Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 20: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his most recent contacts with the Omagh bomb victims and their families; if his assistance has been sought and given in connection with their civil litigation against the alleged bombers; the nature of assistance he is in a position to provide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9687/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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My most recent contact with the Omagh victims and their families was in February 2006 when I issued responses to questions about the investigation that were submitted earlier to the Taoiseach. This response issued via the liaison officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs who was nominated by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, to keep in contact with the families. The Minister, Deputy Ahern, met the families in Dundalk in October 2005 and my Department was represented at that meeting.

Both the Government and the Garda Síochána remain anxious to offer assistance in any appropriate way, in accordance with law, in relation to the civil action. Liaison officers have been appointed in the Courts Service, the Garda Síochána and in my Department to assist in these matters.

Representations were also made to me in relation to funding the civil action. The families, through their solicitors, sought a financial contribution from the Government towards the cost of the civil action being taken by them against the suspected perpetrators of the Omagh atrocity. I am of the view that it would be inappropriate for the Government to fund a civil action in another jurisdiction, and I was not prepared to offer this form of assistance.