The Irish government expects to agree a memorandum of understanding with the Omagh Bombing Inquiry in the coming weeks, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has said.
The probe is examining whether the atrocity carried out by the Real IRA in the Co Tyrone town in August 1998 could have been prevented.
The bomb killed 29 people, including a woman who was pregnant with twins, in the worst single atrocity in the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
All those who were killed were remembered during commemorative hearings at the inquiry earlier this year, and evidence was also heard from those injured and emergency workers who responded.
Former RUC chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan. (Liam McBurney/PA)
The next phase of public hearings, due to start from June, will hear from core participants, including the Police Service of Northern Ireland and former chief constable Ronnie Flanagan.
However former RUC detective Drew Harris, who is now the Garda Commissioner, said he has not been invited to give evidence by the inquiry.
Mr Harris, who along with Mr O’Callaghan was in Belfast on Monday for a cross-border crime conference, said: “I’ve had no communication to suggest that I’ll be called as a witness.
“I am the Garda Commissioner, therefore I am bound by the department of justice, and the minister has spoken in terms of the memorandum of understanding that is being worked through.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton speak to media (Rebecca Black/PA)
“That has to be set against the backdrop of the very clear comments made by the government in respect of support for the Omagh inquiry.
“Obviously, this is a situation that is going to evolve over the coming weeks.”
Mr O’Callaghan told media that he “listened very attentively” to the recent commemorative hearings, adding he had found it “extremely powerful just to hear the voices of the families and the victims giving their evidence”.
He restated the Irish Government’s commitment to fully co-operating with the inquiry.
“We’re in the final stages of concluding a memorandum of understanding in respect of the provision of information to that inquiry,” he said.
“If new legislation is required, it will be enacted by the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Taoiseach and the Tanaiste are fully committed to that co-operation with the inquiry, and our assessment is is that the best way to establish the truth as to what happened is for there to be one inquiry rather than two parallel inquiries.”
Irish Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan. (Brian Lawless/PA)
Pressed further on the memorandum of understanding, Mr O’Callaghan said there have been meetings between his officials and counsel for the inquiry.
“Memorandum of understanding drafts have been exchanged, I think we’ve just got further comments back from the inquiry in respect of what we’ve provided,” he said.
“So we’re in the process and I’m fairly confident that we will have an agreed memorandum of understanding in the coming weeks and certainly before the public hearings recommence in June.”
Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long said it is important that people have full confidence that inquiries are able to access all relevant information, and that everyone with information is fully co-operative with it.
“I’m reassured by the fact that the Irish Government have given that commitment and said that they will co-operate fully with the Omagh inquiry,” she said.
Ms Long added: “I also think we need to consider at the heart of all this is that there are victims and witnesses, and we heard some of the traumatic testimony that they recounted in the last number of weeks.
“I would not want to put people unnecessarily through having to go through that process a second time if there is a mechanism by which we can reassure people they will get full accountability and full truth from the inquiry that is currently sitting.
“However whether there is a need for a parallel inquiry I think is something that we can only judge when we see what arrangements are put in place in terms of giving that information to those families and to those victims.”