Sir Ronnie Flanagan tells of shame about suicide comment over Omagh report

Former RUC chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan has said he was ashamed over comments that he would publicly commit suicide if criticisms by a watchdog into the force’s Omagh bomb investigation were true.Sir Ronnie told the Omagh Bombing Inquiry that the remarks he made in 2001 were “crass and insensitive”, and should never have been made.However, the retired former top officer also said he feels he kept his promise to leave “no stone unturned” in the police investigation into the dissident republican massacre.Sir Ronnie was giving evidence in the public inquiry into the dissident republican car bombing in Omagh on August 15 1998 which killed 29 people, including a woman who was pregnant with twins, in the worst single atrocity in the Troubles in Northern Ireland.The inquiry, chaired by Lord Turnbull, is holding evidential hearings in Belfast.The latest phase of hearings is concentrating on the period before and after the bombing, and will examine how it was carried out and who was responsible.The inquiry was set up by the previous government to examine whether the explosion could have been prevented by UK authorities.On Monday afternoon, Sir Ronnie was questioned on the critical report delivered in 2001 by former police ombudsman Baroness Nuala O’Loan into the original RUC investigation into Omagh.Baroness O’Loan told the inquiry last month that Sir Ronnie had told her in a one-to-one meeting that year that her report could have destroyed the peace process in Northern Ireland.Responding to this, Sir Ronnie told the inquiry: “I never felt that for a second and wouldn’t ever have said that.”The former chief constable was then asked about comments he made in a press conference in December 2001 that he would publicly commit suicide if the criticisms in the ombudsman report were true.Read MoreSir Ronnie said: “I regretted it instantly I made it. It was crass, it was insensitive.“Too many of my own police families have been afflicted by that curse.“And I was so ashamed if I caused hurt to the families similarly affected.The exterior of Bradford Court in Belfast, where the Omagh Bombing Inquiry is being held (Liam McBurney/PA)PA Wire“I apologised then. I apologised at the beginning of the inquiry, and I apologise now.“A terrible comment that should never been made.”Counsel to the inquiry Paul Greaney KC asked the retired officer about his determination after Omagh was bombed.Sir Ronnie said: “That the people responsible, in whatever capacity, be brought to justice.”Mr Greaney said: “That has not happened.”Sir Ronnie said: “It has not happened and that is a source of the most deep regret to me.”Sir Ronnie told the inquiry he had been in his office in Belfast in August 1998 when he first heard about the explosion and immediately travelled to Omagh.He said he wanted to show “how much these things mattered”.Questioned about the subsequent RUC investigation, Sir Ronnie was asked if it had kept faith with his comment from 1998 that “no stone would be left unturned”.Paul Greaney KC is lead counsel to the inquiry (Liam McBurney/PA)PA WireSir Ronnie said: “I had open lines of communication to the SIO (senior investigating officer) and I had made it clear to him if there was anything he needed, anything whatsoever, and if he felt he wasn’t getting it, he should make direct contact with me.“No such request for additional resources or help or assistance was ever forwarded to me on those lines.”Mr Greaney said: “The question is sitting there now, with the knowledge of all that you know, and whatever the commitment that you made to the investigation, do you consider that the investigation, while you were chief constable, kept faith with the promise to leave no stone unturned? ”Sir Ronnie said: “That’s my feeling. Yes.”Mr Greaney showed the inquiry an RUC policy log which said that the month following the bomb, the senior investigating officer (SIO) made a decision to reduce the manpower and hours of work in the incident room investigating the explosion.The barrister asked: “The reduction in both the hours of operation of the incident room and the number of staff, did that reduction six weeks and two days into the investigation occur with your knowledge?”Sir Ronnie said: “No, it did not.”Mr Greaney said: “And if the the prospect of those reductions had been raised with you, what do you think you would have said?”Sir Ronnie said: “I would have sought assurance from the SIO that he was content that the incident room could be managed effectively by these new measures.”Mr Greaney said: “Were you surprised when you saw that there had been a reduction in aspects of the investigation at quite an early stage?Sir Ronnie said: “I’m not sure that this was shown to me or that I picked this one up.”The barrister then showed the inquiry another log entry from November 1998 which showed further reductions in the size of the inquiry team.Mr Greaney said: “Again, can I ask, were you made aware at the time, 15 weeks and two days after the bombing, that that was taking place?”Sir Ronnie said: “No, I was not.”Earlier, Mr Greaney had told the inquiry that he was confident the Irish Government would answer questions about an anonymous call to an army camp the day before Omagh was bombed.Last month, the inquiry heard that the call had been made to the Finner army camp in Co Donegal on August 14 and that Omagh had been mentioned.Mr Greaney said: “Drawing the strands together, the current evidential position appears to be this, there was an anonymous call to Finner Camp on the night of the 14th of August.“This referred to a need for security forces, including in Northern Ireland, to pay attention to the road that was the main route from Lough Melvin to Enniskillen, Irvinestown and Omagh.“The sergeant who spoke to the caller did not take the content seriously at the time and made no report upwards at any stage prior to the Omagh bombing.Chair of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry, Lord Turnbull, at Bradford Court in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA)PA Wire“Accordingly, the content of the call did not come to the attention of UK state authorities prior to the Omagh bombing.”The barrister said Garda intelligence reports had concluded that the call had not been a warning about Omagh.However, he said the same report included a comment which indicated Omagh had been mentioned three times in the call.He said the call had been traced to a bar in Bundoran and that there had been four other calls from the bar to the camp earlier on the same day.The barrister said the relevance of the earlier calls is “unclear”.Mr Greaney said: “The inquiry legal team has posed a series of questions to the Government of Ireland, in writing, designed to achieve greater clarity around this issue.“In particular, around the apparent tension between the various conclusions reached by the AGS (An Garda Síochána) about the significance or otherwise of the call, about whether any information about the call was passed contrary to indications to the contrary, to the UK state authorities, and if so, when?”He added: “It is in the view of the inquiry legal team, unsurprising that the Government of Ireland has, in the time available, not been able to answer the questions posed in our document.“We are confident that they will do so.”