Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 65: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the North-South or British-Irish contacts there have been at ministerial or official level in relation to the Omagh bomb investigation in general and subject matter of the Nally report in particular; the position of the Government on the matter; if future such contacts are proposed or envisaged; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9690/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Omagh bomb investigation remains a live police investigation in both Northern Ireland and this jurisdiction. As this is an ongoing police investigation in both jurisdictions, it is a matter primarily for both police forces. My Department does not have a role in the actual investigation, nor would this be appropriate. The general situation regarding the atrocity and the status of the Nally report have been mentioned from time to time in intergovernmental contacts.

There is ongoing and close cooperation between the PSNI and the Garda Síochána. The Garda investigation is managed from an incident room at Monaghan Garda station. Regular meetings are still being held between the investigation team based in Monaghan and the PSNI investigation team based in Omagh. Senior officers from both police forces meet from time to time to discuss all aspects of the investigation.

The Nally group was not mandated to inquire into the Omagh bombing of August 1998 or who the perpetrators of that atrocity were. The Nally report arose when the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Ms Nuala O'Loan, presented a report to the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen. This report contained allegations by a Garda detective sergeant about the handling of intelligence by the Garda Síochána concerning the activities of the Real IRA, RIRA, in 2002 and about drug-related matters in the period 1995 to 1996. My predecessor as Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, duly appointed Dr. Dermot Nally, former Secretary to the Government, Mr. Joe Brosnan, former Secretary of the Department of Justice, and Mr. Eamonn Barnes, former Director of Public Prosecutions, to examine matters arising from the Ombudsman's report to the Minister. This included allegations relating to the conduct of certain Garda officers in the period immediately before and after the Omagh bombing.

The Nally group reported in June 2003. The core of the allegations, which would have amounted to serious misconduct on the part of members of the Garda Síochána, were examined in detail and rejected in their entirety. The report has not been published as it contains highly sensitive matters involving the security of the State and possible risk to the lives of individuals. There are also live criminal charges against the person who made the allegations. I have undertaken to publish a redacted version of the report once those criminal charges have been disposed of.