Omagh inquiry told gardaí warned RUC of car bomb crossing border

The Omagh Bombing Inquiry has heard that the gardaí (Irish police) warned the RUC that a car bomb was to cross the border the day before the atrocity.

As the hearing resumed in Belfast on Monday, lead counsel for the inquiry Paul Greaney KC outlined the evidence to be heard over the week as he summarised the evidence to come from former chief superintendent Norman Baxter.

It heard that in response to the warning, the RUC carried out a "proactive police operation" in Newry, which they believed might be the route to a target.

The Omagh bomb crossed over from the Republic into Northern Ireland at Aughnacloy in County Tyrone.

Greaney KC said that some of that evidence would "need further inquiries".

Retired Chief Supt Norman Baxter, who was the senior investigating officer in charge of the investigation, is due to give evidence in the coming days.

On Monday, the Inquiry was told how, on the 14 August 1998, during a police meeting, the regional head of special branch South interrupted with an "urgent" issue.

The officer said that the Gardaí "believed a car bomb was coming north the following day", which was the day the Omagh bomb exploded killing 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

The unnamed officer said he had no details of the vehicle and did not know where the target was.

However, in the subsequent discussion between the deputy assistant chief constable and an Officer 1, Lisburn, Portadown and Banbridge were identified as targets.

The inquiry heard that the evidence from Baxter will describe how "a proactive police operation" was set up in Newry to "protect the Banbridge corridor".

Greaney KC pointed out that this was not linked to evidence about a warning call received by Finner Army Camp in County Donegal the day before the bombing.

Previously, hard evidence said that the caller, using a public phone at a bar in Bundoran, said "Omagh Omagh Omagh".

The hearing heard a statement given by the army officer who took the call.

In it he said it was dismissed as a "prank call" and the content of the call wasn't escalated to An Garda Síochána or the Northern Ireland security services.

Greaney KC also pointed out that there was no evidence from the Gardaí or the RUC of ever having received that warning.

The inquiry's legal team said that this evidence would give rise to questions which "could not be answered" in this chapter of the inquiry.

He said that the inquiry's legal team had written to the Irish Government for further information in relation to this and it hopes to return to the issue in a later stage.

Sworn in to give evidence on Monday was the former Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan.

He said the fact that the people responsible for the bombing have not been brought to justice is a "source of the most deep regret to me".

Sir Ronnie was taken through his career in the police which included working for Special Branch and being trained by the FBI in America.

He was Chief Constable of the RUC, then later the PSNI as the force was reformed.

Sir Ronnie told the inquiry that he recognised that, as chief constable, he was "responsible for the police's actions and inactions" in the investigations into the bombing.

He told the inquiry that in his line of his work, he was exposed on a firsthand basis to the death and devastation, but the aftermath of the Omagh bomb was "especially shocking".

Sir Ronnie said that, while he didn't recall saying that he "would leave no stone unturned" in finding those responsible for the bombing, he believes the RUC and PSNI investigation into the bombing "kept faith" with that promise.

He said he had a "direct and keen" involvement in the investigation but admitted that he was unaware of the winding down of the investigation 6 weeks after the bombing.

Sir Ronnie added that he did not know of a further reduction in resources two months later.

He also said that he was "unaware of the challenges" in the relationship between the RUC and An Garda Síochána as any problems "hadn't been brought to his attention".

Sir Ronnie said he shared a "warm relationship" with Patrick Byrne, the Garda Commissioner, and could have brought it up but it was never raised with him.

He also said he had not heard of any of the issues with the operations of the police administration system - HOLMES - the use of which has been heavily criticised during the Inquiry.

Sir Ronnie said he accepts that there were "grave shortcomings" with how the police used HOLMES in the Omagh Bombing Inquiry.

Sir Ronnie rejected Baroness Nuala O'Loan's recollection of a meeting between them.

It happened at Hillsborough Castle in 2001 ahead of the publication of a report by Baroness O'Loan in her role as Police Ombudsman which was highly critical of the RUC's investigations into the bombing.

"The whole character of the meeting ascribed by the Baroness is not the character of the meeting as I recollect."

During her evidence Baroness O'Loan said that Sir Ronnie had told her that the publication of the report "would destroy the peace process".

On Monday he denied ever saying that.

"I never felt that for a second and would never have said that".

When asked if he was "angry and upset" at the meeting, the former Chief Constable said: "I don't think so. Upset, disappointed, shocked even".

He also apologised for his "crass" response to the Ombudsman's report in an interview after its publication.

"I regretted it instantly. It was crass and insensitive and too many of my own police families have been afflicted by that curse and I was so ashamed if I had caused hurt to families similarly affected."

Sir Ronnie Flanagan said that he there was "no reluctance" by him to cooperate with the police ombudsman report and the tension outlined by Baroness O'Loan was over access to "secret material".

"I think the access afforded to the ombudsman's team was unprecedented and what was being requested here was the ability to actually remove secret material from Police HQ.

I wasn't happy for the material to be removed".