We will have an opportunity to return to this debate in a few minutes following the Order of Business.

I refer to a different matter that relates to weekend comments about the Omagh bombing, the single worst atrocity in the Northern Ireland Troubles, which cost the lives of 29 men, women and children. The Taoiseach will recall that in the aftermath, his Government appointed an ad hoc non-statutory committee to inquire into allegations that the Garda was in prior possession of information that might have helped in preventing that atrocity.

The Nally committee met and inquired in private and its report was not published. However, a copy was given to Deputy Kenny and me for immediate return. At the time I made it clear I was not convinced that the report had put an end to these allegations. I also made it clear that, whatever the purpose was in giving it to Deputy Kenny and me, I was not being brought into the circle of those who would stand over it as the last word on the matter. I said I was struck by the consistent inability of that committee to query the official Garda version of events where it differed from that of Detective Sergeant White, even where the official version contained contradictions or was unsupported by documentary evidence. I also said:

The report was from a committee of insiders about insiders to be read by insiders. It came from within a hermetically sealed environment. The possibility that even some of the allegations it was investigating might be even partially true would represent a collective corporate failure of massive proportions and with devastating consequences.

Last week the outgoing assistant chief constable of the PSNI, Sam Kincaid, together with his successor and superintendent Baxter, who headed up the inquiry into the Omagh bombings, gave an on the record briefing to the Omagh families on their findings to date. They made clear their view that both MI5 and the Garda had relevant information, which was not passed on to the RUC at the time and which, taken together, would have placed them on a much higher state of alert as far as Omagh was concerned. Their conclusions run entirely counter to the Nally report and its findings.

That is not so.

Both Deputy Kenny and I have expressed our surprise that the Nally committee was unable to reach its findings without interviewing the Garda informant at the heart of the affair. Last week the PSNI made clear again that it still wished to interview this man, a Mr. Dixon, a car thief who stole cars on order for the Real IRA and its bombing campaign. According to The Sunday Times, the PSNI also placed his relationship with the Garda in an entirely different light by revealing that he had permitted gardaí to place bugs in the cars he stole for the Real IRA. I do not recall, subject to correction, that information in the Nally report.

Sir Hugh Orde will report to the British Prime Minister and the Garda Commissioner on his findings. In light of the Taoiseach's commitment, which is entirely genuinely held, that his Government would be helpful in all circumstances to the Omagh families, what is his response to the statement by the retiring assistant chief constable of the PSNI, Mr. Sam Kincaid?

Deputy Rabbitte has given a factual account of what happened and when the Nally report was published. The Omagh bomb case is before the courts and any new evidence will be examined. However, it has been the view all the way through that any information given to the Garda by the security forces was acted on long before the explosions. I cannot be certain of the facts but the relevant security information was acted on long before 15 August 1998. The bomb that was in preparation at that time was intercepted. I do not say the Deputy is talking about a different issue but the information was passed to the Garda by MI5. The information was acted on and the bomb that was in preparation was intercepted. It has been my understanding that the PSNI and the chief constable do not believe the account given by Sergeant White.

The Government will do everything it can to both help the Omagh victims and to support the ongoing investigation, into which significant resources have been put by the security services, North and South, and in England. We will continue to play our part in trying to get a satisfactory conclusion on that.

To be clear on the matter, if Sam Kincaid was talking about the information that was given to the Garda by MI5 — I cannot be certain that is what he was talking about — that information was acted on and the bomb that was in preparation was intercepted and dealt with.

From my memory of the report, which I read carefully at the time, it is clear that the Nally report regarded Mr. Dixon as an ordinary commercial car thief who would have no intelligence of relevance to pass on. I do not know the truth of the matter. However, from my contacts in Northern Ireland, I know that the former assistant chief constable, Sam Kincaid, was and is very highly regarded and what he said is very clear. He said that his view was that both MI5 and the Garda Síochána had relevant information which was not passed on to the RUC and which, if taken together, would have placed the RUC on a much higher state of alert as far as the Omagh case was concerned. In the light of this statement, does the Taoiseach accept that the Nally report is not the final word on this matter?

We have, for example, taken up a position across this House on the matter of the Finucane case. In condemning the inadequacy of the Finucane inquiry we have sought for the British authorities to lift the veil of secrecy from their security services intelligence on the Finucane case. In this case, we know that the Omagh families and the PSNI still have questions. The former assistant chief constable said that if he had the information from MI5 and the Garda, which he did not get, that information, taken together, would have put the RUC in a position to be on a much higher state of alert.

This is an important development as the bomb in Omagh was the single worst atrocity in the history of the Troubles and it obliges us to examine the contention of a respected former senior policeman. If Mr. Hugh Orde is making a report to the British Prime Minister on the matter, the Government should consider and make a public statement on its response to this information.

The Government will, obviously, consider all these issues. The Deputy is right that we have not got to the end of this matter. The end will come only when we get successful prosecutions against the people who perpetrated the bombing in Omagh and killed, injured and maimed so many people, affecting many families for the rest of their lives. The issue continues.

I have dealt with this matter over a long period and I remember the events fairly well. I will make a few points. The Nally report asked Mr. Dixon to co-operate with it, but he did not at the time. What he has done since, I cannot recall. I recall that it has been raised in the House a number of times that he tried to contact people here to put his side of the case. My recollection is that at the time the Nally report asked Mr. Dixon for his co-operation but he did not do so.

I do not think I have ever met Sam Kincaid, but I am sure he is a fine policeman and his record shows that. If his intelligence sources did not tell him something, I have no comment to make on that. If MI5 did not tell the PSNI about the information it had, I have no comment to make on that. Previous to that, however, long before the explosion, MI5 gave information to the Garda Síochána. The Deputy may recall there were a number of interceptions that summer and a number of incidents, including people being arrested leaving Ireland by ferry. The information the Garda got was acted on and a bomb that was in preparation was dealt with. That was hugely significant at the time.

I am not aware of any information, but I will check again. It appears there are two issues. The Deputy says that Sam Kincaid said his sources did not give him information and my information has always been that the information we got was acted on. I do not believe there was any other information. That was my understanding.