Omagh bombing inquiry hears from Garda detective under ‘exceptional’ cross-Border deal

A senior Garda detective has given evidence at the Omagh bombing inquiry as a result of an “expressly exceptional” agreement by the Irish Government. Part of an interview recorded with Det Supt Emmet Casserly in Dublin on September 1st was played to the inquiry in Belfast on Thursday. Lead counsel to the inquiry, Paul Greaney KC, said that once its entirety had been viewed, he hoped it would be deemed a “meaningful exercise” but highlighted its “limitations ... It was not the fully dynamic process of questioning and pressing of witnesses that will happen, we are sure, here [at the inquiry in Belfast].“But what is important everyone should know is that we do fully intend to utilise the statutory procedure to seek answers from the Republic of Ireland to the outstanding questions which undoubtedly do exist,” he said. READ MOREA 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 Omagh on August 15th, 1998.The inquiry into the atrocity, which opened in 2024 under Alan Turnbull, was ordered by the UK government to examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by British state authorities. Its third chapter, which opened in Belfast on Monday, is examining how the bombing was carried out and who was responsible. Its “working hypothesis ... is that, at an organisational level, both the Real IRA and Continuity IRA planned and carried out the Omagh bombing.” [ Omagh inquiry names 27 ‘key individuals’ related to 1998 bomb attackOpens in new window ]At the outset of Thursday’s sitting of the inquiry, Greaney explained that An Garda Síochána had prepared a “sequence of events statement”, accompanied by a presentation, in answer to a number of questions posed by the inquiry legal team about the events of August 12th-15th and the subsequent Garda investigation. He said that, in general, the mechanism to secure evidence from “current or former Irish State witnesses” would be through the bespoke legislation enacted by the Government this year to facilitate co-operation with the inquiry. “However, the inquiry legal team made a request for an exception to the statutory procedure to permit evidence in the sequence of events statement to be adduced by questioning from the inquiry legal team,” Greaney said. “The Irish justice Minister agreed on an expressly exceptional basis for this to be done,” he said. “The terms of that agreement were that the inquiry legal team would carry this questioning out in Dublin, and that it would be recorded.” Paul Greaney KC arriving at the Omagh bombing inquiry at Bradford court in Belfast. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire In total, four hours and 30 minutes of evidence from Casserly was recorded during that session, with just over an hour of the footage played to the inquiry on Thursday. The segment played related specifically to the theft of the vehicle which was used to transport the Omagh bomb, which was stolen in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, as well as the subsequent Garda investigation.[ Omagh bombing inquiry hears of ‘likely’ co-operation between dissident groupsOpens in new window ]Casserly, who is currently attached to the Special Detective Unit, with national responsibility for terrorism-related investigations, said a team of detectives at Dundalk Garda station was tasked with preparing the sequence-of-events statement, which presents “the investigation as conducted at the time”, for the inquiry, They “retrieved the entire contents of the investigation” – 107 boxes of material – to enable them to do so. The senior detective answered questions about the theft of the car which contained the bomb, a maroon Vauxhall Cavalier with the registration 91-DL-2554 which belonged to Paul Ward, and which was taken from outside his girlfriend’s house at St Macartan’s Villas some time between 11pm on August 12th and 3.30am on August 13th, 1998. He outlined the Garda response when Ward reported the theft, which included sharing the details nationally and with the RUC in Belfast, as well as the details of other attempts to steal the same make of car in the area that night, and potential sightings of the stolen car in Monaghan and Louth on August 13th. However, “due to lack of accurate of detailed descriptions and a lack of CCTV, the investigation was hindered ... in terms of tracking that vehicle after it was taken from St Macartan’s Villas,” the detective superintendent said. Lead counsel asked whether gardaí were able “to definitively progress the movements of that vehicle in the period after it was stolen”. “No, they were not,” the senior garda replied.[ Dissident republican Colm Murphy was ‘spider at centre of web’, Omagh bombing inquiry hearsOpens in new window ]The remainder of Casserly’s evidence, which covers the events of August 15th prior to the first bomb warning call, the police investigation and suspects, will be played later in this current sitting of the inquiry. However, lead counsel told the inquiry that “the position of the Government of Ireland” was that the questioning of Casserly “should be restricted to matters contained within the sequence-of-events statement that had been prepared. “Notwithstanding that position, the inquiry legal team indicated a wish to ask additional questions, and indeed we provided a list of those questions. “With a small number of exceptions, the Government of Ireland declined to permit that additional questioning to happen,” he said, adding that “it wasn’t simply a no, because what was indicated was that supplementary questions should be posed through the statutory procedure”.Greaney said that even from the evidence viewed on Thursday, “it’s clear that there are other questions that need to be asked and answered about the circumstances of the theft of Paul Ward’s Cavalier.“To take some stark examples, topics that we need to know more about are Anthony Donegan, the thief of the car, Seamus Daly, the terrorist, as we described him on Monday, and Paul ‘Jaws’ Kelly, the man who, on the evidence as we provisionally assess it to be, was the intermediary between Donegan and Daly.“And, to take another example, it’s plain that efforts were being made to steal a Cavalier specifically on the night of the 12th to 13th of August.” While there were “from the sequence-of-events statement, some timings” to help work out exactly when Ward’s vehicle was stolen, it did not include the time of the attempted theft of another, similar vehicle, “and yet that time will make a contribution to our understanding, and so we will need to know,” Greaney said. On Thursday afternoon, Mark Safranauskas, inquiry analyst, presented a timeline of relevant events on August 12th to 14th, including call data between the so-called “key individuals” and CCTV footage from a checkpoint which showed a car crossing the Border in what was believed to be a “dry run” on the afternoon of August 14th. He also described multiple possible sightings of the “bomb car”, including a witness who placed it in Market Street in Omagh at 4pm on August 14th, and another who said they saw it there at 9.30pm that night. The inquiry will resume on Monday, when the focus will move to the events of August 15th, the day of the bombing itself, beginning with evidence from Det Supt Casserly, who will answer questions on the movements of the bomb car and scout car.