International Co-operation (Omagh Bombing Inquiry) Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-19
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Niall Collins (FF), Limerick County

The Senator is seeking to insert a new subsection in section 11 after subsection (4) dealing with the rights of core participants to the inquiry. The core participants are largely family members and have a formal status before the inquiry with rights to receive documents and make submissions to the chairman. There are 62 core participants, of whom 58 comprise families or groups of families, represented by a range of legal firms. The Bill makes provision for them to attend and hear at first hand the evidence given before the nominated judge of the High Court. This is an important new feature compared with the 2019 Act and I am pleased that it was possible to make such provision in the Bill, notwithstanding that the process is to be conducted otherwise than in public.
Amendment No. 23 is linked to the Senator’s earlier amendments to section 5 which sought to dispense with the requirement for the chairman to specify the questions that he wished to have answered and instead submit a more open request identifying topics, areas and matters. That amendment has not been accepted and I cannot accept this amendment. In considering amendment No. 23, I would recall that the inquiry is established under the law of the United Kingdom and operates in accordance with the rules and procedures applicable to such inquiries in that jurisdiction. Those rules govern the right of core participants to make submissions and suggest lines of questioning to the chairman and, indeed, to ask questions of witnesses themselves with the permission of the chairman. It is entirely a matter for the chairman of the inquiry to decide if, or how, core participants may make submissions to him in relation to the matters on which he may seek assistance from Irish State authorities under section 5 of the Bill. It is not a matter that is appropriate to the Bill.
Other elements of the Senator’s amendment seeking to have the core participants make submissions to the nominated judge as to lines of questioning and seeking the permission of the nominated judge to directly question the designated person are wholly incompatible with the bespoke mechanism provided for in the Bill and the rationale underpinning the need for such a bespoke mechanism. Apart from these fundamental problems with the amendment, in seeking to give the chairman, counsel to the inquiry and the nominated judge decision-making roles, it would likely bring legal challenges or appeals into play. In the case of the chairman or his counsel, it is unclear if such challenges would be determined under Irish law or UK law.
As will be clear from my remarks, we are satisfied that the mechanism in the Bill is both legally necessary and legally sound, and is capable of operating reasonably efficiently so as to ensure that requests for assistance are responded to as comprehensively as possible and without undue delay. I cannot accept this amendment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-19