20 years on, a lone bell tolls for Omagh victims
A SINGLE bell rang out a symbolic 32 times yesterday as it marked the 20th anniversary of the devastating Omagh bombing – an atrocity that inflicted the worst loss of life of any act of terrorism during the Troubles.
Each peal marked a life wiped out in the tragedy as well as one for all victims of the 30-year Troubles, before falling silent at 3.10pm, the time a 500lb car bomb ripped through the busy shopping area of the town in County Tyrone.
On August 15, 1998, 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, were killed by the bomb planted by the Real IRA. More than 200 people were injured.
Victims included both Protestants and Catholics, as well as a number of Spanish tourists and Irish people visiting the town on a day trip. The bomb exploded just months after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which was supposed to have largely brought an end to violence in Northern Ireland.
Yesterday on Market Street, where the car bomb had been parked, a vigil was held for families who lost loved ones and members of the public to remember the victims. In Dublin, Irish president Michael D Higgins rang a peace bell in a mark of solidarity. Flowers were also laid at the Omagh memorial garden, just yards from the site of the atrocity.
During the memorial service, Father Kevin Mullan, who had comforted bereaved families after the bombing, challenged those responsible to reflect on their actions. Speaking directly to the bombers – who have never been convicted in a criminal trial – Father Mullan
‘£2m to bring the killers to justice’
said: ‘Come you who 20 years ago did this to Omagh, please come back once more among us to this market place, which you tore up with your bomb, to this street and its shops where you left our relatives, friends and visitors broken, bleeding, dead. You were not afraid then. Come with your tears, and do not be afraid now.
‘In your eyes we may read the apology of your heart. In our tears we may not know how to respond. We too must step out of the dark.’
Richard Scott, a retired police officer off duty the day the bomb exploded but who rushed to help, read a poem called Reality, written by Tracey and Paula Skelton, who lost their mother Mena.
After the bombing, solicitor Victor Barker, who lost his son James, 12, played a leading role in launching the Omagh families’ campaign, backed by the Daily Mail, to raise £2million to bring the killers to justice, after the authorities failed to secure criminal convictions. Mail readers raised £1.2million, with the Government later providing the extra £800,000 needed to bring the case to court – the first time alleged members of a terrorist group had been sued.
In an historic victory in 2009, victims’ families were awarded more than £1.6m damages. A judge ruled Real IRA godfather Michael McKevitt, lieutenant Liam Campbell and two other republican dissidents, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly, were behind the attack.
The families have continued to try to overturn the Government’s decision not to hold a public inquiry into claims the attack could have been prevented without a series of intelligence failings.