Analysis: So who came out best this week, Sir Ronnie Flanaganor Nuala O'Loan? The answer is the Policing Board, writes Dan Keenan
The Policing Board's letterhead carries the optimistic slogan "Defining the Future". Three days of marathon talks this week are putting substance to that motto.
The specially convened meetings to discuss the Omagh reports compiled by the Chief Constable and the Ombudsman have produced a blueprint so clever in its language, tone, balance and politics that it ranks with the Belfast Agreement itself as a piece of ingenuity.
The document those meetings produced allows important things to happen which can be summarised thus: it defuses the dispute between the offices of the Chief Constable and the Police Ombudsman; it lays down a framework (albeit an awkward one) for the Omagh investigation to proceed; and, perhaps most importantly, it establishes the reputation of the Policing Board itself.
Just over three months in existence and comprising 19 diverse members, 10 of whom come from the political parties, and with Sinn Féin carping from outside, the board has come up with a unanimous decision which is a victory for no one, points to a way ahead for the investigation and allows each side to put its spin on things.
So, the SDLP can claim with some veracity that its wish to base a plan on Nuala O'Loan's six recommendations for advancing the Omagh case has been met. The DUP claim that the Ombudsman didn't get what she wanted and her office is up for review is also true. Sir Ronnie's insistence that his man, Det Supt Brian McArthur, stays as boss of the bomb investigation is accepted, while Nuala O'Loan can also claim that she got "five-and-a-half out of six" recommendations met.
That has taken some doing. But then squaring circles has become a Northern speciality in recent times.
The story is far from over, of course. Sinn Féin has had its room to manoeuvre cut back. Accusations that the board is toothless will not stick so readily now, but its claims regarding the role of Special Branch, as a force within a force, might.
More importantly, the families of the dead have given a polite and dignified two cheers for the board's report.
Ever dignified, Mr Michael Gallagher employed that most tired of clichés to rare effect. He suggested there were too many cooks capable of spoiling the broth.
He was referring to the fact that the Omagh investigation would now have the same Senior Investigating Officer with advice from Philip Jones from the Merseyside force, who will both be answerable to the Chief Constable and who will be checked by a new man from another British force, all under the watchful eye of the UK police inspectorate.
Perhaps he shouldn't be too surprised since just about everything in the North has layer upon layer of administration and representation, all of which is monitored by a clumsy structure of checks and balances.
What other territory of 1.6 million souls has 26 local authorities with more than 500 councillors, 106 Assembly members, its own Executive, 3 MEPs, 18 MPs and a handful of peers, plus a plethora of boards, NGOs, watchdogs and quangos in addition to all-Ireland and British-Irish structures, and all monitored by a senior British cabinet member and two junior ministers? Another relative, Mr Kevin Skelton, thought the board's plan did little more than "save face" all round. He has a point, but saving face in this case was essential if there is to be any hope of progress in the investigation.
The Omagh relatives meet next week to discuss the board's report. Disputes between offices and the saving of reputations mean little to them.
For these people, discussion about who has won and lost is all but irrelevant, for they have lost, and will continue to do so until the bombers of Omagh are jailed.