O'Loan was appointed by Her Majesty 's Government to the post of Police Ombudsman designate in 1999 . The Ombudsman 's Office was created by the Police ( Northern Ireland ) Act 1998 . This reform came into force some two weeks prior to the Belfast Agreement and the office 's existence and practice has been the subject of continued controversy since . In August 2001 , she was tasked with looking into police handling of the Omagh bombing in 1998 . This attack killed 29 people ( and 2 unborn children ) . Her report , published in December 2001 , found that the Royal Ulster Constabulary had prior knowledge of some form of attack planned for that area and it questioned the leadership of Northern Ireland 's then Chief Constable , Sir Ronnie Flanagan . Responding to the report , Flanagan said he considered the report to represent neither a " fair , thorough or rigorous investigation " . He said he was considering legal action on a " personal and organisational basis " . An application for a High Court judicial review of the report was made by the Police Association trade union in 2002 and withdrawn in 2003
Omagh bombing
Omagh bombing
Nuala O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan