The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, has rejected claims that the Government is preventing gardai from recruiting three men as supergrasses to testify in court cases which might arise from the Omagh bombing.
The father of one of the boys killed in the "Real IRA" atrocity, Mr Victor Barker, yesterday said he was contacting officials in Dublin to get to the bottom of allegations which implied the Government did not wish to upset mainstream republicans by allowing the men to testify.
The Fine Gael Northern Ireland spokesman, Mr Brian Hayes TD, described the allegations as "very worrying indeed" and called on Mr O'Donoghue to clarify the Government's position.
"If true, it would undermine confidence in the entire system of justice in the Republic, it would undermine confidence in the gardai and the democratic system that we hold in the separation of Government from the police," Mr Hayes added.
In his reaction, Mr O'Donoghue said he was "dismayed" at the allegations which were "completely without foundation", adding: "The Garda Siochana have made and continue to make every effort to apprehend those responsible for the Omagh bomb and have the full support in this of the Government."
There have been reports that the Garda wanted to put the would-be witnesses - believed to be Dublin criminals close to the "Real IRA" - on the Government's witness protection programme. Mainstream republicans, however, were said to have been worried that such a move could bring to light evidence against the Provisional IRA as well as dissident republicans.
Mr Barker, an English solicitor, said he was worried the Government was more concerned about upsetting Sinn Fein politicians than co-operating with the Omagh inquiry.