Almost two years into the investigation of Veronica Guerin's murder there was still a sizeable team of Garda detectives compiling evidence and tracking the suspects' movements across the Continent. Many of the original 40 or so detectives in the case have devoted much of the last four years to it and a small core has been on it full time.
By contrast, the 40 or so detectives assembled to investigation Omagh - the worst single atrocity committed on this island in the last century - was largely disbanded three months later. By 1998, according to sources, the incident room in Monaghan Garda station was reduced to a handful of officers.
The incident room team was increased on occasions when new evidence came to light. But, sources say, there was little indication its inquiries would ever proceed to a court case involving all or most of the 15 people identified as being involved. Most of the culprits, including the "Real IRA" leadership, live between Dundalk and the Border with south Armagh.
RUC Chief Supt Eric Anderson, who told the Omagh inquest that the bombers lived in the Republic, also outlined what appears to be an impressive record of police work on the investigation. He said 6,500 people had been interviewed, 3,500 premises or homes visited, 2,700 statements recorded and 5,200 actions generated from the inquiry.
A total of 81 arrests had been made, 58 by the Garda and 23 by the RUC. Border crossing footage of security cameras had been examined, as well as 237 videos and several tourist films.
However, there is one very significant difference between the Omagh and Guerin investigations. In the Veronica Guerin investigation the State used the evidence of "accomplice witnesses", figures involved in an organised criminal gang who were prepared to admit offences in court, face sentence and then give evidence against their former associates. Four such witnesses have given evidence so far in the Guerin cases, leading to the convictions of two men for murder and several others on mainly drug-related offences.
The Guerin prosecutions are based on witness evidence supported by extensive circumstantial evidence gathered through complex investigations, particularly into the use of mobile phones on the day of the murder. So far the cases have been compelling enough to secure convictions.
There has been no indication of "Real IRA" figures being encouraged to turn State's evidence against their former associates as part of the Omagh case. Sources say this is because there is a far greater threat to their lives from republican paramilitaries, particularly in the Border area.
However, The Irish Times has learned that before the Omagh bombing the Garda had infiltrated the "Real IRA" operations and had had recruited some informants. These are thought to include people used to ferry explosives, steal cars and other relatively low-level activities. Their information contributed to some major Garda successes before the Omagh bombing.
Between January and May 1998 the Garda seized intercepted at least six bombs. These included the seizure of 1.5 tons of explosives at Howth in January; 250 lbs of explosive at Redhills, Co Cavan in February; 600 lbs at Hackballscross, Co Louth in March; 1,000 lbs of explosives at Dundalk later that month; 500 lbs in a car at Dun Laoghaire ferry port in April; and almost 1,000 lbs of explosive at Jonesboro in May. In five out of the six raids gardai made arrests at the scene of the seizures.
The seizures came at a crucial time for the peace process in the North, protecting the delicate negotiations at Stormont from the consequences of a republican bomb atrocity in the North.
The bombers, aware that their operations had been compromised, switched to a different pattern of working and isolated the leak of information that summer. It is understood that by the time of the Omagh bombing the Garda was close to catching up with the bombers. The Omagh bomb narrowly slipped through the Garda net.
In the aftermath both governments moved to introduce new anti-terrorist legislation and proclaimed that those responsible would be hunted down.
Introducing the Omagh measures, the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, said the Bill "contains a series of harsh measures which are regrettably necessary in the fight to ensure that the will of the vast majority of people on this island is not thwarted by the murderous activities of a few".
Broadly similar legislation and similar sentiments issued from the British government. In the Republic the legislation amended after the bombing - which included extra detention powers and asset seizure - remained largely unused until this month, when one of the new provisions was enacted.
It would appear that the police work on Omagh has not fulfilled the commitments made by both governments. The Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, has acknowledged that it was increasingly unlikely that the Omagh bombers would be brought to justice.
In an Irish News interview on March 13th he said: "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." Asked if the masterminds of the attack could get away scot-free, he replied: "Sadly, possibly and maybe probably".
The investigation raised sensitive extra-jurisdictional and political problems from the outset. The bomb was constructed and exploded inside the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland. The culprits were mainly in the Republic. Unlike the Guerin case there were obvious political difficulties about the allowing some of the bombers to turn State's evidence. The use of "accomplice witnesses", or "supergrasses" as they were pejoratively known, could impact on nationalist sensitivities if these people were to give evidence alongside RUC officers.
The use of these witnesses in the North's juryless "Diplock" courts had been attacked by all shades of nationalism when used by the RUC in the early 1980s. It would have been likely that their re-use, even in the Omagh case, would cause political difficulties, particularly for republicans. It would also occur at a time when the thrust of nationalist opinion on policing in Northern Ireland was for the replacement of the RUC and a change to the Diplock system.
Similarly, the processing of a potentially huge case involving the use of such witnesses and RUC officers in Dublin would mark a departure for the Republic's justice system.
Not only are the people who perpetrated Omagh still free but, according to sources on both sides of the Border, they are again actively engaged in pursuing a terrorist campaign aimed at unsettling the North. Security forces on both sides of the Border expect a significant terrorist attack.