The Five Demands

Una commissione di parlamentari ha espresso forti critiche contro la decisione dell’esecutivo sull’apertura di una nuova inchiesta atta a far luce sulla strage di Omagh del 1998

La relazione rilasciata dal Northern Ireland Affairs Committee ha espresso delusione ed ha chiesto chiarimenti dopo il diniego governativo di seguire le raccomandazioni ivi contenute. (comunicato stampa del Northern Ireland Affairs Committee)
Viene considerata irragionevole la decisione di Gordon Brown di non permettere al capo del comitato di poter accedere alla relazione completa di Peter Gibson, oltre a non aver fornito alcuna risposta ai dubbi sollevati dalla relazioni sui limiti dell’inchiesta stessa.
Il Presidente della Commissione, Sir Patrick Cormack, ha dichiarato: “Siamo profondamente delusi che il governo non abbia correttamente affrontato le raccomandazioni contenute nella nostra relazione. Preghiamo vivamente il comitato nostro successore e il prossimo segretario di Stato di esaminare nuovamente i punti indicati nella nostra relazione”.
La commissione chiede di valutare nuovamente se le intercettazioni nelle mani dei servizi di sicurezza (GCHQ) avrebbero potuto salvare la vita delle 29 persone morte nell’attentato rivendicato dal Real IRA.
La commissione vorrebbe valutare quanto i servizi di sicurezza erano al corrente dei movimenti dei terroristi.

MPs criticise Omagh bomb response (Belfast Telegraph)
A committee of MPs has criticised the Government’s response to the Omagh bomb probe.
A Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report expressed disappointment and called for clarification about whether a public inquiry into the 1998 Real IRA blast would be ordered.
It branded unreasonable Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s refusal to allow the committee chairman access to a full report by intelligence chief Sir Peter Gibson on intercept intelligence available at the time of the explosion. The dossier added Government had failed to respond to the committee’s concerns about the limits of Sir Peter’s investigation.
“Instead the government has sought to criticise a journalist for protecting his sources, which misses the committee’s point entirely,” the committee said.
It said the Northern Ireland Office appeared to contradict itself over whether the explosion requires further inquiry.
Committee chairman Sir Patrick Cormack said: “We are deeply disappointed that the Government has failed properly to address the recommendations in our report. We strongly urge our successor committee and the next Secretary of State to consider again the points made in our report.”
The committee has called for a fresh investigation into whether the state withheld vital information from detectives hunting the Omagh bombers.
Key questions which needed to be addressed include whether the attack could have been prevented and whether enough was done to catch the killers after the explosion.
The committee wanted to establish how much the security services knew about the killers’ movements at the time of the bombing.
Twenty-nine people, including a mother pregnant with twins, died in the Real IRA attack in Omagh on August 15 1998. No-one has been convicted of the murders.