6.10.03
Omagh families demand Dublin hands over informer
Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday October 5, 2003
The Observer
Families of the Omagh bomb victims challenged the Irish government last night to hand over an informer who is living abroad under a Garda witness protection programme. Relatives of those killed in the biggest atrocity of the Northern Ireland Troubles said the republic must allow detectives investigating the Real IRA murder of 29 men, women and children to interview the informant.
They were 'shocked and dismayed' that the Irish authorities had not informed the PSNI and the families that a key potential witness had been in protective custody abroad for several years.
The Observer knows the identity of the informer, who is from the Finglas area of north Dublin. At the time of the Omagh bomb he stole cars on behalf of the car dealer for the Real IRA. He knew about the plot to transport a large explosive device into Northern Ireland just prior to the massacre on 15 August, 1998. A heroin addict who fed his habit through crime, the thief told his handlers that the Real IRA planned to put a bomb in a northern town days before the blast.
The informer told his Garda contact that the Real IRA was seeking a Vauxhall Cavalier, the model used to transport the bomb to Omagh. The Real IRA asked him to approach a used car dealer in the republic for a Cavalier. When the dealer was unable to do so, the Real IRA used two other criminals, including a northerner known as 'Belfast Jim', to steal a Cavalier in Co Monaghan, 24 hours before the bombing. None of this intelligence was sent to the RUC.
'Bells should have started ringing the moment the Vauxhall was stolen, given the information the car thief had passed on to his handlers,' one Garda officer admitted yesterday.
The Finglas man was arrested two months after the bombing for car theft, but all charges were dropped and he was spirited out of the republic
Last night Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan died in Omagh, said: 'If this man has vital information on the Omagh bomb, then the PSNI should be allowed to interview him.
'There have been a number of important sources of intelligence the Garda were running who have never been allowed to be interviewed by the Omagh investigations team. It begs the question as to why this man was moved out of the republic, and where is he now?'
Henry McDonald, Ireland editor
Sunday October 5, 2003
The Observer
Families of the Omagh bomb victims challenged the Irish government last night to hand over an informer who is living abroad under a Garda witness protection programme. Relatives of those killed in the biggest atrocity of the Northern Ireland Troubles said the republic must allow detectives investigating the Real IRA murder of 29 men, women and children to interview the informant.
They were 'shocked and dismayed' that the Irish authorities had not informed the PSNI and the families that a key potential witness had been in protective custody abroad for several years.
The Observer knows the identity of the informer, who is from the Finglas area of north Dublin. At the time of the Omagh bomb he stole cars on behalf of the car dealer for the Real IRA. He knew about the plot to transport a large explosive device into Northern Ireland just prior to the massacre on 15 August, 1998. A heroin addict who fed his habit through crime, the thief told his handlers that the Real IRA planned to put a bomb in a northern town days before the blast.
The informer told his Garda contact that the Real IRA was seeking a Vauxhall Cavalier, the model used to transport the bomb to Omagh. The Real IRA asked him to approach a used car dealer in the republic for a Cavalier. When the dealer was unable to do so, the Real IRA used two other criminals, including a northerner known as 'Belfast Jim', to steal a Cavalier in Co Monaghan, 24 hours before the bombing. None of this intelligence was sent to the RUC.
'Bells should have started ringing the moment the Vauxhall was stolen, given the information the car thief had passed on to his handlers,' one Garda officer admitted yesterday.
The Finglas man was arrested two months after the bombing for car theft, but all charges were dropped and he was spirited out of the republic
Last night Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan died in Omagh, said: 'If this man has vital information on the Omagh bomb, then the PSNI should be allowed to interview him.
'There have been a number of important sources of intelligence the Garda were running who have never been allowed to be interviewed by the Omagh investigations team. It begs the question as to why this man was moved out of the republic, and where is he now?'
