A “considerable body of material” has not been shared with the Omagh bombing inquiry due to applications by the UK government and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to redact information from documents, a hearing has been told.
The inquiry’s lawyer Paul Greaney KC said there was a “brake” on disclosure due to submissions, and that even at the “early stage” of March this year “as many as 80 documents were having to be withheld from disclosure”.
It “will not be possible to disclose to core participants a considerable body of material that contains the names of junior officials and/or suspects until the issues have been resolved”, he said.
Mr Greaney outlined his “surprise and frustration” that the inquiry’s legal team had received documents from the Northern Ireland Office at 4pm the previous afternoon and said there was a “risk” it would “undermine public confidence” in the UK government’s approach to the inquiry.
“It hardly needs to be said that this inquiry is about whether the Omagh bombing could have been prevented by UK state authorities, and it is also notable that this hearing ... concerns issues that could be described as ones involving transparency,” he said.
“So, it might be thought that HMG [His Majesty’s Government] would have been scrupulous to avoid the impression that it was behaving in a way that was procedurally unhelpful,” he said.
The two-day hearing, before inquiry chair, Alan Turnbull, opened in Belfast on Wednesday to hear submissions from the UK government on redacting names of junior civil servants from material provided to the inquiry.
Submissions were also heard from the PSNI regarding the protection of the identities of suspects connected to the Omagh bombing.
The inquiry will see the documents in their unredacted form, so the hearing relates only to the provision of material to core participants to the inquiry.
This includes bereaved relatives and those injured in the bombing, all of whom have signed confidentiality agreements.
It does not relate to the release of such information into the public domain, which will be considered at a later date.
A total of 31 people, including unborn twins, died and hundreds were injured when a car bomb planted by the dissident republican group the Real IRA exploded in the centre of the Co Tyrone town on August 15th, 1998.
The inquiry into the bombing began hearing evidence earlier this year, and is due to resume in June.
Appearing on behalf of the bereaved families represented by John McBurney solicitors, a barrister told Wednesday’s he wished to express their “dissatisfaction” at the “apparent diluted candour which they perceive in the approach which has been taken by both HMG and the secretary of state”.
He reiterated their “full confidence in the inquiry” and said he would “strongly discourage” the redaction of the names of junior civil servants “in order to fully maintain the openness and transparency of these proceedings”.
Earlier, addressing Fiona Fee KC, counsel for the Northern Secretary, Mr Turnbull said he had been “disappointed to receive written notes on behalf of the Secretary of State late yesterday afternoon, just as I was boarding a flight to attend these proceedings” and he was also disappointed “in respect of the level of engagement with the inquiry which it implies”.
It appeared to demonstrate, he said, “a lack of prioritisation, or allows an impression to be gained of a disrespectful or disorganised attitude towards the work of the inquiry”.
Ms Fee said this was not the case and said “absolutely no discourtesy to the inquiry or to other core participants was intended ... in fact, the intention was entirely the opposite”.
On behalf of the PSNI, Philip Henry KC told the hearing it had made a “conscious decision” not to lodge an application to redact suspects’ names, but was “flagging up these issues so that the inquiry can make an informed determination on the redaction issue”.
The hearing resumes on Thursday.
