Relatives of the Omagh bomb victims say they want the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Ms Nuala O'Loan, to carry out an independent investigation into allegations that gardaí had advance information the "Real IRA" was planning a car bomb attack before the Omagh blast.
The relatives yesterday urged the Minister for Foreign Affairs to consider this investigation, which would effectively duplicate the work are of an inquiry by a government-appointed "three-man committee" due to report in a fortnight.
Speaking after a two-hour meeting in Dublin with Mr Cowen, Mr Michael Gallagher from the Omagh Victims Group said they were not questioning the ability of the three-man committee.
He said the Ombudsman's office in Belfast was set up under the Belfast Agreement to bring transparency and accountability to policing in the North and it had been involved in investigating the RUC, "so we felt that they were the best placed people to carry out an independent investigation.
"That's not to say that we're questioning the ability of the three-man team but we feel that the Ombudsman's office has investigative skills that wouldn't be available from the three-man team."
Mr Gallagher said Mr Cowen asked them to be patient and see what the outcome of the three-man team inquiry was. The bereaved relatives would then meet the Minister for Justice to discuss it.
The former Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, decided to set up the three-man committee inquiry earlier this year after Ms O'Loan presented a report to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. It is understood that she would not have jurisdiction to carry out a similar investigation in the Republic.
Mr Gallagher said Mr Cowen did not say the three-man team report would be published in full, citing sensitive issues around security and how the State countered terrorism. "We said these were matters that concerned us and it was important that we know the outcome of that investigation. So whether we as families will hear the full outcome of the investigation or it will be a summarised version we don't know."
Mr Gallagher described yesterday's meeting as good and at times "very frank. We conveyed to the Minister that we wanted to start a positive relationship with the government." He said Mr Cowen emphatically denied that there had been any suggestion that the Government had done a deal with the "Real IRA" to go easy on it in return for a ceasefire.