The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said he could not release the Nally report to the families of the Omagh bomb victims because the State remains "locked in a life and death struggle with the murderous group which perpetrated the Omagh slaughter".
Mr McDowell said the perpetrators of the 1998 bombing in which 29 people died planned to "strike again" and his first duty was to prevent them. "So I will not help them by sacrificing security in a short-term gesture of compassionate transparency, much though you would be emotionally tempted to do so."
He told deputies that once certain criminal matters were dealt with he hoped to be able to produce an edited version of the report, but there would still be "national security considerations", regardless of the outcome of the criminal proceedings. He stressed that he was caught "between a rock and a hard place" because of the legal issues.
During a two-hour debate on the investigation into concerns about Garda activities in 1998 and allegations of Garda inaction on the Omagh bombing, the Minister insisted he was not trying to hide behind some smokescreen.
All the allegations investigated by the Nally group were made by a garda, who is currently suspended and facing indictable charges on unrelated matters.
"I can assure the House that this is not some theoretical legal consideration but one which places real constraints on what any of us can properly say in public."
The report "deals with the credibility and motivation of that person". The relatives of the victims made the point that they suffered most as a result of the bombing and deserved to see the report. Mr McDowell acknowledged there was widespread support for this view.
However, the reality was that he had "wider responsibilities".
"I must act within the law, have regards to the rights of everyone and ultimately to where the public interest lies," he said. "It is by no means a question of my not trusting the Omagh families, but it is simply not a sustainable proposition that the victims of crime have a right to all information, irrespective of its implications for national security, the rule of law and the rights of others."
The authors of the Nally report investigated concerns about Garda activities in 1998, following an earlier report by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Ms Nuala O'Loan. The Nally group inquired into allegations of Garda inaction on the Omagh bombing, ministerial interference in the judicial process and unlawful and improper conduct by senior Garda officers. The report found there was no foundation to the allegations investigated.
Reiterating comments made in a debate in December, Mr McDowell said there was a public perception that the core allegation the Nally group was asked to examine was that gardaí failed to pass on to the RUC information that could have prevented the bombing.
However the Minister stressed that "no such allegations was in fact ever made to the group" and because none was made the group examined no such allegation. At the end of the day, he said, "if people wish to believe that some vast conspiracy is taking place involving many members of An Garda Síochána, myself, my predecessor, the Government and the group to hide the truth, then there is nothing I can do about such a view. "But it would be deeply sad and a desperate pity if one of the legacies of Omagh was that the Garda, who relentlessly fought the threat posed by paramilitary groups, were to be unfairly undermined."
