IRISH and British politicians will demand that the British government release intelligence on the Real IRA suspects behind the 1998 Omagh bombing at a meeting in Newcastle tomorrow.

As no one has ever been convicted for the biggest atrocity of the northern Troubles, more than a dozen of the cross-party members of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body (BIIPB) will plea for the intelligence release tomorrow. Unionists will be represented on the body for the first time since it was set up in 1990.

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) members Lord Ken Magennis and East Derry MLA David McClarty will attend. The Democratic Unionist Party will be represented by Jim Wells, MLA for South Down.

A UUP spokesman said, "The UUP will be participating on the basis of establishing and maintaining good relationships. The party's position remains that '... this new, broader and, indeed healthier and sounder footing for the organisation [makes it] now perhaps time to engage.'"

Until this weekend, unionists have refused to participate in the body's bi-annual meetings since it was set up in 1990 as they feel the body is "a creature of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement".

The body will be renamed 'the British-Irish Assembly' to accommodate unionist concerns. The body is co-chaired by ex-Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain and Donegal North East TD Niall Blaney.

Blaney told the Sunday Tribune, "I expect that there will also be DUP representatives there on the day. Reg Empey and Peter Robinson said to me that they would stay together on this one. I look forward to both parties being represented at the plenary in Newcastle. We need them there and want them there and they will be very welcome there."

The body currently has 25 members each from the Dail and the Westminister parliament, five members from the Scottish parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly and one member from Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey.

British Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay will table a motion calling on the British Government "to disclose immediately to the legal counsel of the families of the victims of the Omagh bombing, details of and all information relating to and arising from, the request made by the RUC to GCHQ , for surveillance of those subsequently suspected of preparing and carrying out the atrocity in Omagh a decade ago, including transcripts and timelines".

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward, the north's security minister Paul Goggins, Eamon Ryan, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources will also address the two-day meeting on a number of issues.

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