The Omagh Bombing Inquiry has heard that gardaí warned the RUC that a car bomb would cross the Border the day before the 1998 attack. The warning was passed on 14 August 1998 during a police meeting, when the regional head of Special Branch South raised an urgent issue. The officer said gardaí believed a car bomb was coming north the following day, but had no details of the vehicle or its target.

In response, the RUC set up what was described as a proactive police operation in Newry to protect the Banbridge corridor. Portadown and Banbridge had been identified as potential targets during the meeting. The Omagh bomb crossed the Border at Aughnacloy in County Tyrone on 15 August, killing 29 people, including a woman who was pregnant with twins.

The inquiry was told that the Newry operation was not linked to evidence about a warning call received by Finner Army Camp in County Donegal the previous night. That call, made from a public phone at a bar in Bundoran, mentioned Omagh three times. The sergeant who took the call did not take it seriously and it was not escalated to the Gardaí or Northern Ireland security services before the bombing.

A document analysing the call concluded it was unlikely to have related to Omagh and that those responsible were unlikely to have used the route suggested. The inquiry's legal team said it had written to the Irish Government for further information and hoped to return to the issue at a later stage.

Former RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan gave evidence on Monday. He said the fact that those responsible for the bombing have not been brought to justice is a source of deep regret to him. He told the inquiry that he believed the RUC and PSNI investigation kept faith with his 1998 commitment to leave no stone unturned.

Sir Ronnie said he was not aware of decisions to reduce the manpower and operating hours of the incident room investigating the bombing six weeks after the attack, nor of further reductions two months later. He also said he had not been informed of challenges in the relationship between the RUC and An Garda Síochána.

He rejected Baroness Nuala O'Loan's recollection of a 2001 meeting at Hillsborough Castle, during which she said he told her publication of her Police Ombudsman report would destroy the peace process. Sir Ronnie denied saying that, stating that he never felt that for a second. He apologised for what he called a crass response to the Ombudsman's report in an interview after its publication, saying he regretted it instantly and was ashamed if he had caused hurt to families.