A garda spokesman yesterday defended an assertion by the Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, in the Belfast Irish News that the perpetrators of the Omagh bombing would probably not be brought to justice, even though he knew who had carried out the bombing, how many were involved, where the bomb was built and who drove it into the town.
It was a difficult reality, said the spokesman, speaking on RTE, to bring the masterminds behind the Omagh atrocity to justice. "Investigations of this nature are very protracted, very long and very arduous," he said.
It was very difficult to get evidence. "You're conscious of the fact that there are people out there who have the information, if they would help us," he said.
He wished to assure the people of Omagh, however, that the resolve of the Garda to bring the perpetrators to justice had not waned in any way. "We'll continue, in co-operation with the RUC, to try to bring the people responsible for the Omagh tragedy to justice," he said.
The following comments were made by Mr Byrne:
"Intelligence is no good. If I could prosecute people for all the intelligence information I had on them, I can tell you a lot more would be in jail."
"There is a price to be paid for democracy, that a person is innocent until proven guilty."
"I must say at this stage the leads are very reduced. There are a number of the people I would like to put before the court, but I must get the evidence and I must go to the DPP."
When asked if the masterminds of the attack could get away scot-free, he replied: "Sadly, possibly and maybe probably."
"The consensus we have come to is that unfortunately you will always have some type of `IRA' while you have a British presence in Northern Ireland. I'm not making a case for them. As long as people realise that that's the way it's going to be."
"If we could turn the clock back I wonder would those wisest among us have insisted that this [decommissioning] is an issue that had to be dealt with before political progress could be continued or maintained or established."