PSNI disclosing information to inquiry ‘as quickly as it can'
The PSNI is disclosing information to the Omagh Bombing Inquiry 'as quickly as it can', its legal team has said.
The pledge came after the overall pace of disclosure to the proceedings was deemed not to be fast enough by the inquiry's counsel.
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The Real IRA bomb in the Co Tyrone town in August 1998 killed 29 people, including a woman who was pregnant with twins, in the worst single atrocity in the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The public inquiry was set up by the previous UK government to examine whether the explosion could have been prevented by the UK authorities.
Philip Henry KC, for the PSNI, said the police service had implemented a new team for the Omagh Bombing Inquiry review, adding that the organisation offers its sincere condolences to those who lost loved ones and its deepest sympathy to all those affected.
However, he said there were significant challenges and limitations associated with old, outdated and non-interconnected information technology systems as well as paper records.
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As an example, he said an electronic system that stores criminal investigation papers on the Omagh Bombing holds 26,000 documents of varying length and 2,000 exhibits.
In addition, he said the 'magnitude of the request' by the inquiry to provide material in connection with 31 previous attacks and attempted attacks from 25 years ago is 'a huge undertaking'.
'It is important to emphasise that the PSNI is not offering this as an excuse. Rather, it is a candid explanation of what is involved, so that expectations are realistic as to how quickly it is possible to reliably meet the inquiry's requirements.
'The PSNI recognises that any periods of delay can cause frustration. However, the PSNI must also do the work properly – and it is being done as quickly as it can, and in good faith.'
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Mr Henry outlined how it took over three months for three highly trained sensitive researchers to investigate the first three of 31 previous incidents identified by the inquiry.
It was believed it would have delayed inquiry proceedings by several years if the PSNI did not allocate additional resources to the process.
While the PSNI is also dealing with more than 1,100 other pieces of legacy-related litigation, it decided to reassign all its sensitive researchers who were working on other cases to join the work on the 31 previous incidents for a period of six months.
He said this 'exceptional step' was done in the knowledge that it may impact on work on other legacy-related cases.
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'However, if it did not adopt this course then there would be a delay of several years in progressing the inquiry, which was unacceptable to the PSNI, unacceptable to the inquiry, and would have been unacceptable to the other core participants.'
Mr Henry said it will not be possible for the PSNI to disclose all information in an open, public format but said the service would apply for restriction orders only to protect the public interest or national security and to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.
On the subject of making concessions, he said the PSNI will do so if it becomes appropriate but added that it was not possible at this point in time as it is still in the process of reviewing thousands of documents.
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He also said the PSNI believed that the examination of the preventability of the bombing needed to be calibrated with reference to what was reasonably
practicable in the circumstances.
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He added that a fair and balanced examination would also have to look at other demands and threats faced by the police at the time.
Finally, he noted that it is 'much easier to join the dots after the event, when one already knows the outcome' as he said the inquiry must be aware of 'hindsight bias'.
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