Probably not, I would have to conclude, because too many Government agencies and too many intelligence tactics and reputations would be mired by the mud that would be kicked up.

The very fact that MI5 has prevented its agent Dave Rupert from providing vital testimony at the forthcoming civil action being brought by the relatives of the dead illustrates the hugely influential role of the hidden hand behind the intelligence fog.

And will our newly reconstructed Policing Board elicit any promises from its Chief Constable that things will be better in the future?

Of course it will, but once it gets that assurance what will happen next?

Since Omagh, one case that the Policing Board - now with the supposedly tigerish Sinn Fein reps onboard - should have thoroughly investigated relating to a criminal investigation conducted within the Police Ombudsman's Office has been shunted into a siding. The 'whistleblower' who provided a 16-page statement to a senior police officer learned to his anger that the confidential document was passed to suspects and to his employers who promptly used it against him in a disciplinary hearing.

Only Jeffrey Donaldson has striven to bring about an inquiry by a very senior officer from another force about the PSNI investigation and its actions, even though the other three political parties represented on the Board have been made aware of the serious implications and have been provided with documentation or invited to peruse it.

The new Police Ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, now has to decide whether to sanction an investigation into his predecessor's staff and the PSNI officers who have knowledge of the case, or pass over it with the Director of Public Prosecutions looking over his shoulder.

So do I believe that the Policing Board will be able to do anything meaningful for the relatives of the Omagh bombing in the wake of Mr Justice Weir's scathing criticism of the evidence presented against Sean Hoey? No, I don't.

It remains as toothless now as it was before Sinn Fein was hauled onboard.

And will the Garda and MI5 be called to account about their prior knowledge of the Real IRA's intentions in the fortnight before the attack on Omagh? I hardly think so, because no one in their ranks would be prepared to publicly acknowledge the ultimately devastatingly callous outcome of their deliberations to preserve an informant's identity.

It is despairing to think that 29 innocent people lost their lives in 1998 and nearly 10 years later we suspect much dirty dealings, but can't get at the truth. And who would say it couldn't happen again?