One year on, and there is anger and frustration among victims and bereaved families in Omagh that the masterminds of the "Real IRA" bomb attack, which killed 29 and injured more than 300, appear to have evaded the law. In recent weeks, police from both sides of the Border have met victims to bring them up to date on the investigation and have been told that the large number of arrests leading nowhere is raising false hopes. Speculation continues in the town that there was some form of political deal in return for the group's ceasefire.
"All these arrests are seen by many as stunts to placate people," said a man who did not wish to be named. The townspeople know that going after those responsible may have hurt the peace process, but there is still anger, he adds. To date one man, Mr Colm Murphy (46), has appeared in connection with the bombing, charged with conspiracy to cause an explosion and membership of an illegal organisation. It is expected the trial will begin next year. He is currently on bail of £100,000.
But the frustration at the lack of progress is also said to exist in security circles, as the central figures in the carefully-planned bombing have been identified but not charged. More than 100 arrests, of mainly known dissident republicans around the Border area, have been made North and South, according to some security sources. Officially, arrests have been put at around 54 by the Garda and half that number by the RUC. People suspected of direct involvement and people who may have had prior knowledge of the attack or useful information have all been questioned. Some suspects were rearrested and questioned on the basis of other connected republican dissident bombing operations such as Banbridge and Moira in Co Down. "It's a question of sending out the message `If you as much as but sneeze, we'll get you'," said a Garda source. The RUC stresses that some members of the gang are being shielded by their communities and that locals in south Armagh have refused to give the police information.
Frustration also comes from the fact that detectives in the unprecedented joint investigation have had to concentrate on the minor players in order to bring charges. The central figures cannot be touched as a result of the "Real IRA" ceasefire called last September.
"We were initially delighted at the introduction of the special legislation," said one Garda source, "but after the ceasefire was secured it became clear that there had been a political rethink by the governments on how the laws would be used."
Another security source now believes that if the special measures, which enable a conviction to be secured on the word of a chief superintendent, had been used - effectively internment under a different name - it would have backfired in the long run. "What were we going to do, lock them all up and forget about them? It doesn't work like that," he said.
Mr Vincent McKenna, of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Bureau and a former member of the Provisional IRA, regrets the governments' lack of political will to go after the group responsible, and sees it as aiding Sinn Fein in the political process.
The last thing mainstream republicans need at this stage of the peace process is a prisons protest and hunger-strikes. The Provisionals took steps to deal with it as an internal matter with house visits to dissidents directly after the attack. "They don't need Bobby Sands coming up from the ashes," Mr McKenna added. It was, however, the "draconian" use of the far-reaching powers of detention and imprisonment that was envisaged when Westminster and the Dail were recalled during their summer recesses to rush through the legislation. Commentators complained that the laws represented a violation of human rights while Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern asserted their determination that the bombers would be "crushed". The DUP Assembly member for West Tyrone, Oliver Gibson, who lost a relative in the blast, has publicly pledged that he will "keep pushing the issue until someone gives me a `yes' or a `no' on whether a deal was done with the bombers".
Mr Gibson has claimed that the announcement by the RUC that it intends to bring in an officer from an outside constabulary to oversee the investigation was a "masterstroke" aimed at eventually revealing that the evidence was there but the force could not act because of political considerations.
But those who carried out the operation or stole the car used in the attack do not appear to be untouchable. With the involvement of members of Continuity IRA, the only paramilitary organisation not on ceasefire, and with the car thieves believed to be "ordinary criminals", it may eventually be these who will carry the can for the "Real IRA" leadership, which claimed the bombing.
"Watch that space," said a security source, referring to the possibility of imminent charges against those who procured the stolen Vauxhall Cavalier in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, before it was driven across the Border and loaded with the bomb. The Garda is believed to have "good evidence" about the theft of the car. Gardai are also actively seeking a suspect who has disappeared from Co Louth. The man acted as a scout in Omagh on the day of the explosion and was in contact by mobile phone with a gang member in Co Louth who acted as co-ordinator of the operation. Garda sources say the major breakthrough needed is "not on the horizon at the minute". An RUC spokesman said the force remained hopeful and determined, "but we don't want to build up people's hopes of an imminent breakthrough".
Following the success of telecommunications evidence on the use of mobile phones in the conviction of Brian Meehan for his role in the killing of the journalist Veronica Guerin, it is likely that this "new ground" will be revisited. The Omagh investigation appears intertwined with the peace process. "You can never tell how these things will pan out," said one garda.
The emergency legislation, which to date has been used to extend detention times after arrests, lapses next summer, and it is unclear if it will be renewed.
Laurence Rush, who lost his wife Libby in the explosion, met detectives, including the RUC Chief Supt Eric Anderson and Garda Det Insp Tadgh Foley in recent weeks. He said the RUC gave him "no hope" of a breakthrough, but the Garda had given a "better response".
Mr Rush said he got the impression the gardai don't like to be upended by the perpetrators. "One of them said to me, `Don't expect these people to have a conscience - they're subhuman. As long as they have their carry-out, their pint and their trip to the bookies they're happy. Don't expect any of them to crack, because they won't."'
