Analysis: The Chief Constable and the Ombudsman were urged to mend fences, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern editor
End the "battering match", was the advice offered by Kevin Skelton to Sir Ronnie Flanagan and Mrs Nuala O'Loan in Omagh yesterday evening. Mr Skelton lost his wife Philomena in the "Real IRA" attack of August 1998. Quit rowing and deliver us the bombers, was his heartfelt appeal.
There is still poison in the dispute between Sir Ronnie Flanagan and Mrs Nuala O'Loan but there was some evidence yesterday that the respective heads of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the office of the Police Ombudsman are conscious that now is the time for some pragmatic rapprochement.
Sir Ronnie and Mrs O'Loan have taken centre stage since the Ombudsman last month published her damning verdict on Sir Ronnie and the RUC handling of the Omagh bombing investigation. Mrs O'Loan asserted yesterday that she stood "firmly" behind her report while Sir Ronnie insisted he had provided a "compelling response" to her "unfounded criticisms".
And never the twain shall meet. Both public figures have been under behind-the-scenes pressure to try to tone down their quarrel in the wider interests of policing.
Mrs O'Loan said she agreed with the families that "further public disagreement between the Police Service and my office should be avoided". Sir Ronnie said he and the Ombudsman were professional enough to "ring fence" their differences and get on with the business of policing.
So, there are indications both parties could agree to disagree. And that may be the way forward because observing and listening to Kevin Skelton, and Michael Gallagher, and Lawrence Rush and Donna Marie Keys and the other bereaved and injured victims of Omagh yesterday it was obvious the O'Loan/Flanagan row pales into insignificance compared to the wounds they still carry.
Most of the Omagh spokespeople were decidedly unimpressed with the Chief Constable's presentation. There was no doubt most of their sympathies were with Mrs O'Loan's criticisms. It was well put by Lawrence Rush, whose wife Libby died in the explosion: "Ronnie Flanagan is a great PR man, but he has lost this battle." Some of the victims also expressed reservations about the presence of two senior gardaí, Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty and Det Supt Tadhg Foley, at the briefing. Mr Carty said there was full co-operation between the Garda and the RUC/PSNI during the Omagh investigation, despite claims of cracks in the relationship between the two investigation teams.
This aroused suspicions that this was a heavy-handed way of the Garda endorsing Sir Ronnie over the Ombudsman. The Garda denied this. "We are here for the families," said Det Supt Foley.
Overall though, the Omagh families were less interested in the rights and wrongs of the disputational points put by Sir Ronnie and Mrs O'Loan than with the bald fact that nobody has been charged with the bombing North of the Border, and in the South only one person was convicted.
Sir Ronnie told them the chances of more convictions was not a lost cause but surely as the years proceed so must the opportunities to nail the "Real IRA" killers recede.
Outside the cauldron of Omagh there was a predictable division of opinion, with many nationalists siding with Mrs O'Loan, unionists with the Chief Constable.
The onus for pushing business forward will now rest with the Policing Board.
A key test is whether it accepts Mrs O'Loan's key recommendation that an independent officer from another force should take charge of the Omagh investigation or Sir Ronnie's compromise of a senior Merseyside officer who would merely "advise" the PSNI Omagh team.
Mrs O'Loan and Sir Ronnie will make separate private presentations to the board on February 7th after which the challenge will be for the board - composed of unionists, nationalists and independents - to chart a way forward.