SAOIRSE32

By Brian Rowan
Belfast Telegraph
Friday, 16 January 2009

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams has launched a scathing public attack on dissident republicans, accusing them of involvement in “unacceptable criminal actions” — including extortion and intimidation.

He called on the community to “reject these groups” and urged support for the PSNI “in ending criminality in our community”.

The Adams intervention will undoubtedly raise tensions between dissident and mainstream republicans.

He has linked the Continuity IRA to a specific incident in west Belfast earlier this week and also named those groups using the names Oglaigh na hEireann, the Real IRA and INLA.

The West Belfast MP said: “There has been an increase in criminal actions by a number of organised criminal gangs who claim to be republican organisations.

“The gangs involved are targeting innocent families, business people and in some instances other criminals, in particular drug dealers, demanding protection money.”

He said that on Wednesday the Continuity IRA destroyed a digger belonging to a contractor working on the Casement Park site in west Belfast.

“This attack took place after several threatening phone calls to the contractor and intimidatory behaviour by a number of individuals who threatened workers,” the Sinn Fein leader said.

“It is the latest in a long litany of similar actions by people claiming to represent this group (Continuity IRA). But it is not exclusive to it.

“Others are using the names Oglaigh na hEireann, the Real IRA or the INLA,” he continued.

“Their actions are not about furthering republican goals,” Mr Adams added.

“On the contrary they tarnish the name of Irish Republicanism and seek only to further the self interest of those involved.

“This behaviour is intolerable and it must end,” he said.

In the past Sinn Fein leaders have been warned by police of dissident plans to attack them.

Now the most prominent and public of republican leaders has accused those dissidents of involvement in major criminality.

“It includes protecting drug pushers by extorting money made through this reprehensible practice; it involves threatening business people and families in this community.

“I would appeal to anyone who is genuinely committed to republican aims and objectives and who values the legacy of all those who gave their lives during many years of struggle, to reject these groups.”

The Sinn Fein MP said he upholds the right of others “to dissent from the mainstream republican position and to oppose Sinn Fein strategy”, but he said there could be “no political tolerance for the actions I have highlighted today”.

Irish News
16/01/09

THE interviews of one of those accused of murdering Ballymena schoolboy Michael McIlveen were “oppressive” and sections of them can no longer be relied upon, the murder trial heard yesterday.

The admission came from a detective constable to Antrim Crown Court where five young Ballymena men face charges arising out of the death of the 15-year-old schoolboy who died from head injuries on May 8 2006.

The detective, who helped carry out the majority of the interviews of 18-year-old Christopher Andrew McLeister of Knockeen Crescent, Ballymena, admitted to trial judge Mr Justice Treacy that he was no longer “comfortable with the interviews”.

However, while he accepted that he was “not comfortable with them”, he said he was “still standing over” the remainder of the interviews.

In an earlier exchange with Mr Justice Treacy the officer, having listened to a tape of part of an interview, accepted that he now “considered the interviews were oppressive”.

“Unfortunately yes my lord,” he agreed.

Later he also accepted from the judge that he could not exclude the possibility that some of his comments made to the then schoolboy, “may have added additional pressure on this young man”.

His acceptance came during his cross-examination by Paul Ramsey, QC defending, who also put it to the officer that his “job was to get the evidence and if that meant fair means or foul, then so be it”.

The detective went on to agree that some of the matters put to a young teenager like Mr McLeister were not only “improper and wrong…. but unforgivable”.

“The last bit of tape does not sound good from my point of view I agree,” he answered.

The officer also conceeded that he had destroyed his own personal notes made either before or during the interviews which was in controvention of PSNI force orders.

And he accepted that the special measures set out in the codes of conduct under the Police and Criminal Evidence Order, for the interviewing of juvenile suspects, were ignored in Mr McLeister’s case.

However, he said that while he accepted he “made mistakes in relation to PACE and Mr McLeister… I didn’t deliberately set out to do it”.

On trial with Mr McLeister for murder are: 19-year-old Jeff Colin Lewis of Rossdale, Christopher Francis Kerr (22), Carnduff Drive, and Aaron Cavana Wallace (20), Moat Road, all Ballymena.

A fifth defendant, 18-year-old Paul Edward David Henson of Condiere Avenue, Ballymena, faces charges of affray and criminal damage.

Another accused, 20-year-old Meryvn Wilson Moon, from Douglas Terrace in the town, whom the court heard hit the teenager on the head with a baseball bat, is awaiting sentence having pleaded guilty to the murder.

The hearing continues.

By Marie Louise McCrory West Belfast Correspondent
Irish News
16/01/09

DISSIDENT republican group Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) have admitted shooting a 21-year-old man in a paramilitary-style attack in west Belfast.

Jim Auld, director of Community Restorative Justice (CRJ), said the group contacted him to say they carried out the shooting in the Dungloe Crescent area of Lenadoon.

The shooting victim, who is from the Twinbrook area, was taken to nearby Lenadoon where he was shot in both legs at around 7.30pm on Wednesday.

A police spokeswoman said a motive for the attack had “yet to be established”.

The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) said last year that it considered ONH to be a “continuing and serious threat including to the lives of members of the security forces”.

The IMC said ONH members were “engaged in recruiting, training, targeting and the attempted procurement of weapons.

“Members were also involved in serious crime,” the report said.

SDLP assembly member for West Belfast Alex Attwood condemned the attack.

“This was a serious assault,” he said.

“It is clearly an attempt by those who wish to pose as ‘defenders of the community’ to gain influence and control. It must and will be resolutely opposed.

“West Belfast must not return to the dark days of punishment shootings and threats.

“The whole community needs to be vigilant and show their resolute opposition to those who would seek to drive us

Irish News
16 Jan 2009

A FORMER top loyalist strenuously denied a charge of murdering a rival paramilitary leader more than eight years ago, a court heard yesterday.

Darren Moore (39) is the fourth man to be charged in connection with the killing of UDA chief Tommy English during a bloody loyalist feud in Belfast.

He was remanded in custody after appearing at Belfast magistrates court amid heavy security.

CHARGED: Darren Moore (39), right, was remanded in custody at Belfast magistrates court yesterday charged with killing UDA chief Tommy English, left

Moore, of Mount Vernon Park, Belfast, is also accused of two counts of membership of the outlawed UVF between 1996 and 2000.

The charges were brought against him following a new investigation by detectives from the Historical Enquiries Team – a specialist police unit set up to probe unsolved killings from the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Moore’s one-time close associate, alleged police agent Mark Haddock (40) has also been charged with murdering Mr English.

The UDA man, who had been involved in a loyalist delegation which took part in talks at Stormont prior to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, was gunned down in front of his wife at their home on the Ballyduff estate, Newtownabbey on Halloween night in 2000.

His killing was part of a feud between rival UDA and UVF factions which claimed seven lives.

Two brothers from Newtownabbey, who were originally charged with the killing, have since pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting in the murder of 40-year-old Mr English.

It was claimed during a previous court hearing that they have implicated up to 10 men in the shooting.

Moore stood in the dock yesterday as detective sergeant David Lowans said he could connect him with the offences.

The officer confirmed that when charged Moore replied: “I strenuously deny the allegations – not guilty.”

During cross examination defence lawyer Roderick Friers said: “This is eight years old. There’s absolutely no forensic evidence linking my client to this incident.”

Mr Lowans replied: “That’s the case at present.”

The detective also confirmed that Moore had been interviewed previously in connection with the shooting – in 2000 and 2004 – and was released without charge.

He agreed with Mr Friers assessment that the only evidence against the accused came from two witnesses who were initially charged with the murder.

Moore was remanded in custody to appear again via video-link next week.

Al Jazeera
17 Jan 2009

Two Palestinian boys have been killed after Israeli tank shells hit a UN-run school in Gaza - hours before Israel’s security cabinet is expected to vote on a proposal for a unilateral ceasefire.

The boys, aged five and seven, died and 25 other Gazans were wounded as they sought to shelter in the school run by the UN relief and works agency (Unrwa) in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza.

The school is the third UN shelter to be hit by Israeli fire in its 22-day war on the territory.

The UN has called for a war crimes investigation over the shelling of its school [AFP]

The attack came as heavy artillery and aerial bombardment of what Israel described as “Hamas targets” continued on Saturday.

Christopher Gunness, an Unrwa spokesman, said several rounds hit the UN school at about 6:45am. The third floor of the school took a direct hit after a short pause, killing the pair and injuring another 14 people.

Witnesses said four more people were killed when other shells struck nearby as people tried to escape.

Investigation demanded

About 1,600 civilians had sought refuge from the fighting inside the building, Gunness said.

“The Israeli army knew exactly our GPS co-ordinates and they would have known that hundreds of people had taken shelter there,” he said.

“When you have a direct hit into the third floor of a UN school, there has to be an investigation to see if a war crime has been committed.”

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said: “I condemn in the strongest terms this outrageous attack, which is the third time it’s happened.

“Top israeli leaders have apologised and assured me two days ago that UN premises would be fully respected.

“I strongly demand a thorough investigation and punishment for those responsible,” he told reporters in Beirut.

John Ging, the director of Unrwa, told Al Jazeera: “People today are alleging war crimes here in Gaza. Let’s have it properly accounted for. Let’s have the legal process which will establish exactly what has happened here.

‘A failure for humanity’

“It is another failure for our humanity and it is exposing the impotence of our [the international community’s] inability to protect civilians in conflict.”

In Jabaliya refugee camp, Dr Ezzedine Abu al-Aish, a Palestinian doctor from al-Shifa hospital, lost his three daughters and one niece during an Israeli air attack as he was being interviewed on an Israeli television channel.

At least 10 people were also killed late on Friday after a tank shell slammed into their home during a funeral wake in Gaza City.

More than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, including more than 400 children, according to UN and Palestinian medical sources.

At least 13 Israelis have also died in the same period, three of them civilians.

About five rockets were reported to have been fired from Gaza into southern Israel on Saturday.

BY SEANNA WALSH
An Phoblacht
15 Jan 2009

Photo: LAID TO REST: The effects of his part in the heroic Hunger Strike were to remain with Seán forever

I FIRST met Seán McKenna back in 1977 on the Blanket Protest in H-Block 5. He was about average height and build, small even, but what really struck me were his eyes. He had a look that would skin you but his eyes were very striking and made you aware that here was a person of depth. I didn’t share a wing with him for a while (I was on the young lads’ wing, of course) but in September ‘79 we were brought back from H6 and I ended up across the wing from Seán.
Seán was in charge of H5 at the time so he would have co-ordinated all the discussions and communications which we had about ways and means to increase the pressure on the British to concede political status and to inform the world about the torture and abuse which were ongoing in the prisons.
Inevitably, when you work alongside someone you develop a personal relationship with them and so conversation turned at times to the personal, and about his early involvement with the IRA. He told me about being active in the Army before the split with the Sticks, about his internment and return to the ranks of the IRA on release.
He told me about his father, who was also arrested in 1971, taken to Holywood Barracks and subjected to the hooded and white noise experimental torture techniques by British interrogators. He talked about his father’s funeral in Monaghan and the Garda attempts to disrupt the funeral and arrest the IRA guard of honour.
He told me how he was on the run in 1975 but was given permission to carry a personal firearm as part of the Truce arrangements between the British Government and the IRA. He spoke of coming up to Long Kesh during the truce to collect fellow Newry man and then O/C of republican prisoners to ferry him to meetings with the IRA leadership.
He talked of the hypocrisy and duplicity of the British during this period, how they negotiated the ending of political status while preparing their onslaught against the nationalist community and republican activists.
Once the truce ended and it became apparent that the plan all along had been solely a counter-insurgency strategy, Seán and his comrades in south Down and south Armagh were to the forefront in the resurgent IRA response.
He also told of his arrest and kidnap from a house in County Louth, how he awoke with a gun muzzle pressed to his forehead and his SAS captors, promising to assassinate him in his bed the way they had done the year previously with Óglach John Green in Monaghan and as they were to do a few months later with Óglach Peter Cleary. In the end, they bundled him across the border and even though they charged him with a series of attacks before 1 March 1976, when sentenced to 25 years in a Diplock court he was dispatched to the H-Blocks to serve his time.

Once there, Seán accepted a leadership role in helping to organise and consolidate the mainly younger prisoners and prepare them for the struggle to attain political status.
As we worked our way through various options and escalations inside the Kesh in our attempts to move the British, we finally arrived at the decision which all prisoners and our families had dreaded for four-and-a-half years: we would embark on Hunger Strike to win status as political prisoners.
Seán McKenna was one of the first names on the list volunteering for the Stailc. I remember a conversation with him where we talked of how difficult the Hunger Strike would be, given Thatcher’s clear hatred for Irish republicanism and her massive majority in Westminster.
Seán was at death’s door, clinically dead for a matter of seconds when Brendan Hughes, as leader of the Hunger Strike, ended it and Seán was rushed out to Musgrave Park Military Hospital.
As the Hunger Strike ended, the British produced a document outlining the basis for an end to the prison protests. Republican prisoners put the British proposals to the test. Two wings ended the protest as a trial. Within a matter of days, it became clear that the prison administration were intent on a continuation of their attempts to criminalise the prisoners.
With the pressure off, British ‘security experts’ were openly boasting that the prison protest had been defeated, that the IRA had played their last card and could shortly be defeated by a robust security response.
The wing shifts and the mirror searches and the beatings in the H-Blocks were stepped up at this time. Bobby Sands, the prisoners’ O/C, announced a second Hunger Strike. The rest is history…
Seán returned to the H-Blocks while the second Hunger Strike was already underway. He had suffered 53 days without food and his health had been damaged irreparably. He had difficulties with his sight, hearing, balance and general health. He had to take medication for the rest of his days.
I shared a wing with him again before I was released in March 1984. Despite the severe and permanent damage to his health, Seán complained little and settled quietly into the routine activity on republican wings following the Hunger Strike. We talked again about the past but more so about the future. His longing for release from the prison which had cost him his health and taken the lives of his comrades and friends increased as his time there came to an end. His dreams of home, the countryside, nature and fresh air sustained him.
When finally he was released he was to carry for the remainder of his life the scars of years on the Blanket Protest and his 53 days on Hunger Strike. He leaves a loving mother, brother and sisters who will miss him sorely. Hopefully, now he can have some peace.
I suaimhneas síoraí faoi dheireadh.

BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA
An Phoblacht
15 Jan 2009

**See also Soloheadbeg Ambush

Sinn Féin members elected in the December 1918 election at the first Dáil Éireann meeting called by Sinn Féin on January 21, 1919

When Sinn Féin swept to victory in the General Election of December 1918 it had a mandate to establish the Irish Republic proclaimed in arms at Easter 1916, to convene a national constituent assembly of all the members elected for Irish constituencies, to push for international recognition of the Republic and to oppose British rule in Ireland by all means at its disposal.
The New Year 1919 began with preparations for convening the constituent assembly which was to be called Dáil Éireann. On 7 January 1919 a private preliminary meeting of Sinn Féin Teachtaí Dála was held in Dublin’s Mansion House. A committee was elected to draw up the key documents to be adopted at the first meeting of the Dáil. An invitation was issued in the name of Count Plunkett to all those elected in the General Election to attend the inaugural assembly in the Mansion House on 21 January.
Many of the Sinn Féin TDs were in English prisons, having been rounded up the previous year on the basis of the British government’s fabricated ‘German Plot’. But it was decided to proceed with the First Dáil meeting. The forced absence of so many representatives elected by the Irish people would in itself send out a powerful message to the international community about the true nature of the British government in Ireland.
Twenty-four Sinn Féin TDs attended the First Dáil meeting. The rest were either imprisoned or ‘on the run’. The unionists and the remnant of the Irish Parliamentary Party chose not to accept their invitations.
The streets surrounding the Mansion House were thronged and the Round Room was packed with visitors from all over Ireland and abroad and press reporters from many countries as Dáil Éireann convened on the afternoon of 21 January. Cathal Brugha who had survived multiple bullet wounds in the 1916 Rising was Ceann Comhairle. As the Roll was called ‘faoi ghlas ag Gallaibh’ (‘imprisoned by the foreign enemy’) was read after many names.
Cathal Brugha then called for the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the Message to the Free Nations of the World and the Democratic Programme. The Dáil chose envoys to represent it at the post-war Peace Conference in Versailles and to seek international recognition of Irish independence.
It was by co-incidence that on the same day the First Dáil met IRA Volunteers ambushed an RIC detachment transporting a consignment of gelignite at Soloheadbeg, County Tipperary. Two RIC men were killed in the engagement and the IRA Volunteers included Dan Breen, Seán Treacy, Seán Hogan and Séamus Robinson, all of whom were to play prominent roles in the Black and Tan war. But it would be several months before the Black and Tans were introduced to Ireland and at this stage IRA operations were concentrated on capturing arms.
In the meantime the British government was thwarting all political efforts for Irish independence. It ensured that the Dáil representatives were not given a hearing at the Peace Conference. It reassured Unionists that Partition would be imposed. And in September 1919 it banned Dáil Éireann, ensuring that armed struggle in defence of the Irish Republic would be escalated.
The First Dáil met and the Soloheadbeg ambush took place on 21 January 1919, 90 years ago next week.

RUC building links with the UVF

BY LAURA FRIEL
An Phoblacht
15 Jan 2009

According to the latest revelation, more than £12m pounds of public money was paid to two companies directly linked to the UVF through building contracts awarded by the RUC and then the PSNI.

For over a decade, the RUC (and latterly the PSNI) awarded lucrative building contracts to the Jameson Group of Portadown and Ballymore Builders. Both companies were run by leading members of the UVF. Additional contracts may have been awarded by other state institutions. Jameson was also contracted to carry out work at a DHSS office in west Belfast.
Richard Jameson, director of the Jameson Group, was commander of the mid-Ulster UVF until his murder during a loyalist feud in January 2000. Over a 12-year period, the RUC and PSNI paid Jameson’s company almost £11.5m for renovating barracks.
During the same period, around £500,000 was paid by the RUC and PSNI to John Sinton’s Ballymore Builders for carrying out similar renovation. Sinton was head of the UVF in Tandragee.
The revelations emerged following legal action taken by the father of one of two young men, teenager David McIlwaine and Andrew Robb, murdered by the UVF. The two victims were repeatedly stabbed and their bodies mutilated by a UVF gang.
It is believed that the gang had intended to kill two rival loyalists in a revenge attack following the killing of Richard Jameson. But, having missed their chosen prey, abducted McIlwaine and Robb after a minor altercation.
Following the murder of his son, Paul McIlwaine has campaigned to uncover the truth behind the killings. Two years ago, McIlwaine sought details of RUC and PSNI contracts awarded to the Jameson gang. The action was taken under the Freedom of Information Act.
It was a straightforward request but, curiously, the PSNI has repeatedly failed to meet its legal obligations by facilitating full disclosure.
Initially, PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton claimed “contracts with Jameson of Portadown were a value of approximately £320,000”. That figure was revised upwards by the PSNI in June last year. Leighton wrote to Paul McIlwaine, admitting he had given “incorrect information”.
Leighton then said:
“I would advise that the PSNI had contracts with the Jameson Group and another company which were of the approximate value of £5m.”
Addressing the Policing Board, PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde apologised for what he said was a “genuine error”. The correct figure, reaffirmed Orde, was £5m.
But, despite the chief constable’s reassurances, this was far from correct. A figure ten times the original estimate has now emerged but even this has been described as “the tip of the iceberg”.
According to the latest figures released by the PSNI, £12m was paid to the two UVF-linked building contractors within a 12-year period. But even these figures do not reflect the full extent of the payments made to the Jameson Group and Ballymore Builders.
A truer figure cannot be reached because the PSNI has refused to carry out a manual trawl through almost 7,000 invoices on the grounds it would be too costly.
Describing the amounts paid out to UVF-linked companies as “astounding”, Paul McIlwaine accused the PSNI of “deliberately misleading” him over the past year.
“In my opinion, this is at best more than incompetence and at worst I have been deliberately misled over how much was paid out to the Jameson Group and John Sinton’s Ballymore Builders.
“It can only lead me to believe that this is a cover-up exercise to protect very high-level security force informants at the heart of these contracts.”
McIlwaine also wants to know how the Jameson Group was awarded PSNI contracts despite twice failing the PSNI’s own vetting procedure.
“I want to know why he twice failed police vetting but then mysteriously had the ban lifted by the NIO,” said McIlwaine.
“Why was the Government paying millions to someone it suspected to be a leading member of a paramilitary organisation?”
According to a BBC Spotlight programme, despite being a UVF commander, Jameson carried a legally-held firearm and many of his close associates were members of the RUC.
The trial of Steven Reveals, one of those accused of the murders of David McIlwaine and Andrew Robb, resumed this week. Reveals’s co-accused, Mark Burcombe, has already struck a deal to give evidence against Reveals in exchange for facing a lesser charge himself.
Reveals’s lawyers recently showed PSNI evidence to link Burcombe with the murder of Robert Hamill and two other attempted murders. According to PSNI records, Burcombe was arrested and questioned three times in connection with the Hamill murder. Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill was beaten unconscious and later died at the hands of a loyalist mob in 1997.

**You might have seen this the first time I posted it, but it is back again. Why? Because the mainstream media outlets, except for a very few, refuse to carry it. Does this strike you as censorship? It does me, and that is wrong. If I were inviting people to a riot or an ambush, I could see it, but this is an historical celebration. Next time you pick up your newspaper or read your internet sources, ask yourself what they are holding back from you.

My friend Sharon from 1169 and Counting, located at both 11sixtynine.blogsome.com and 1169andcounting.blogspot.com, has asked me to share with you this important announcement. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend! If you visit this original link, you will find many more explanatory and educational resources:

‘TO THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD. GREETINGS…!’

90th Anniversary of An Céad Dáil Éireann

(the First Dáil Éireann)

A Lecture on this subject will be held on Tuesday 20th January 2009, at 7.30pm, in Wynn’s Hotel, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1. The Clár (Programme of Events) is as follows:

______________________________________________________

7.45pm - Cathaoirleach (Chairperson), Des Dalton, will open proceedings.
8pm - Reading of the Declaration of Independence, as Gaeilge agus i mBéarla, by Tomás Ó Clérigh agus Richard Walsh.
8.15pm - Reading of An Scéal Ó Dháil Éireann Chum Saor-Náisiún an Domhain (the Address to the Free Nations of The World) in English and French (Appel aux Nations), by Róisin Hayden agus Séan Ó Bradaigh.
8.30pm - Reading of the Democratic Programme of Dáil Éireann by Séamus Ó Súilleabháin.
8.45pm - Lecture on the First Dáil Éireann by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Uachtarán (President), Sinn Féin Poblachtach.
10pm - Questions from the floor followed by a social hour.

An Clár for the 90th Anniversary Lecture.

On January 21st , 1919, the First Dáil Éireann met in the Mansion House, Dublin. The Declaration of Independence , the Address to the Free Nations of the World and the Democratic Programme of Dáil Éireann were read. On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, Republican Sinn Féin will host a lecture by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh to commemorate the anniversary. Republicanism is currently under threat from revisionist historians, politicians and the media so it is imperative we bring the truth to the people. It is through people like you that we can do this. We hope to see you on Tuesday night, January 20th 2009 at 7.30pm in Wynn’s Hotel in Dublin City Centre. All Welcome!

Thanks!
Sharon

:::u.tv:::
16 Jan 09

Members of a public inquiry probing the murder of Robert Hamill have visited Portadown to see where he was beaten by a loyalist mob.

Part of the town centre was sealed off to allow the family to view the area where he was attacked after a night out with friends.

Mr Hamill died 11 days after the attack in April 1997.

The panel viewed the scene, which included a police Land Rover similar to the one alleged to have been parked nearby at the time of the fatal assault.

The family said they were struck by the clear view of the area which was available from inside the vehicle when it was parked at the approximate position of where it was at the time, only a few yards from where Mr Hamill was killed.

The inquiry has been told that within days of the attack, police had a list of names for those involved as well as evidence that a police officer had warned one of the killers to dispose of clothes worn in the attack.

The police officer denies the allegation, while the police service is also denying wrongdoing in the case.

:::u.tv::
15 Jan 09

The Prime Minister has been challenged by victims’ families to publish a report of a review of intelligence material surrounding the Omagh bombing.

It is understood that due to the sensitive nature of the content, the report will not be published.

The review was ordered by Gordon Brown last September after it was claimed GCHQ was monitoring Real IRA phone conversations as the bombers drove the device into the Co Tyrone town in August 1998.

Twenty-nine people plus two unborn twins were killed in the attack - the worst single atrocity in the Northern Ireland troubles.

Sir Peter Gibson, the Intelligence Services Commissioner, was invited by the Prime Minister to “review the intercept intelligence material available to the security and intelligence agencies in relation to the Omagh bombing and how it was shared”.

‘Not good enough’

The report was completed and handed to Mr Brown before Christmas and a spokesman said it was anticipated there would be a government comment on it in the next couple of weeks.

But the families of the Omagh victims say that is not good enough.

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died in the bombing, said: “If the report is not published how are the families going to have the confidence that it was a comprehensive investigation?”

An Irish report into a claim by a Garda officer, Detective Sergeant John White, that information given to him by an informant and passed on to senior officers was not passed to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, was also never published .

Mr Gallagher said: “That was treated as an internal inquiry and we see this report being treated in the same light.

“If it is not published the families will not be reassured that everything possible that could have been done to stop the bombing, or to catch the bombers, was done.

“Why would the Government want to hide the facts from us?”