Omagh gang must pay one way or another

THE families of those killed in the Omagh bombing have already suffered beyond belief. That they lost their loved ones in what was arguably the most callous act of terror of the Troubles era is bad enough.

But it can only have been made worse by the fact that the outrage was committed months after the Good Friday Agreement was signed, at a time when it seemed as if peace had returned to the North for good.

Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of the bombing. The grieving families have seen very little in the way of justice during the intervening years.

Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt received a 20-year jail term at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin on a charge of directing terrorism. Another man found guilty of plotting the attack, Colm Murphy, was freed following a retrial. But nobody has actually been convicted of carrying out the atrocity.

Almost a decade has passed since McKevitt, Murphy and two other men – Liam Campbell and Séamus Daly – were found liable for the bombing after a civil trial. They were ordered to pay €1.8million to the 12 relatives who took the case.

But the money is still not forthcoming. As if they hadn’t suffered enough already, the families are now being forced to go to the High Court to make them to pay up.

No amount of money – regardless of how substantial – is ever going to bring any real comfort or solace to those affected. But it might just give them some small measure of justice and, perhaps, a degree of closure.

When the families gather tomorrow for the first ever memorial service at the site of the bombing, it will be a hugely significant and important moment. It will likely be an even greater milestone, though, if they manage to force those found liable for the bombing to hand over the token sum they were ordered to pay back in 2009.