Former Northern Ireland secretary Mr Peter Mandelson today accused the Northern Ireland’s police ombudsman of gullibility and castigated her report on the 1998 Omagh bomb as a "very poor piece of work".
Mr Mandelson, who set up the office of Ombudsman Mrs Nuala O'Loan in 2000 to investigate complaints against police, said a report by her accusing police chiefs of bungling the investigation into the bombing which killed people 29 lacked rigour.
"I'm afraid I think it's a very poor piece of work indeed. It falls below the quality and standard of objectivity and rigour required in a report of this kind," Mr Mandelson told BBC radio.
Northern Ireland Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan had said earlier today the Omagh bomb inquiry reached "distorted conclusions".
Sir Ronnie is considering High Court action over Police Ombudsman Mrs Nuala O'Loan's report, which claimed his flawed judgment had significantly reduced the chances of apprehending the terrorists.
But Sinn Féin MP Mr Pat Doherty said: "The report highlights in some detail the very core of what has been wrong with policing and still is wrong with policing in the North".
He told the BBC Radio 4 Todayprogramme that claims that Sir Ronnie had had no right of reply were "untrue". He said: "He has the document for some time to make comments and he did not make those comments".
However, Sir Ronnie repeated his assertion that the way the report was compiled went against natural justice.
PA