Omagh bombing
Encyclopedia
The Omagh bombing was a car bomb
attack carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army
(RIRA), a splinter group of former Provisional Irish Republican Army
members opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, on Saturday 15 August 1998, in Omagh
, County Tyrone
, Northern Ireland
. Twenty-nine people died as a result of the attack and approximately 220 people were injured. The attack was described by the BBC
as "Northern Ireland's worst single terrorist atrocity" and by the British
Prime Minister
, Tony Blair
, as an "appalling act of savagery and evil". Sinn Féin
leaders Gerry Adams
and Martin McGuinness
condemned the attack and the RIRA itself.
The victims included people from many different backgrounds: Protestants, Catholics, a Mormon
teenager, five other teenagers, six children, a woman pregnant with twins, two Spanish
tourists, and other tourists on a day trip from the Republic of Ireland
. The nature of the bombing created a strong international and local outcry against the RIRA, which later apologised, and spurred on the Northern Ireland peace process
.
A retrospective report by the Police Ombudsman
, Nuala O'Loan
, in December 2001 concluded that people "were let down by defective leadership, poor judgement and a lack of urgency" in the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC). The RUC has obtained circumstantial and coincidental evidence against some suspects, but it has not come up with anything to convict anyone of the bombing. Builder and publican Colm Murphy
was tried, convicted, and then released after it was revealed that the Gardaí forged interview notes used in the case. Murphy's nephew Sean Hoey was also tried and found not guilty. Police Service of Northern Ireland
Chief Constable
Sir Hugh Orde
said that he expects no further prosecutions. In June 2009, the families of all the killed victims won a £1.6 million civil action against four unconvicted suspects.
Negotiations to end the Troubles
had failed in 1996 and there was a resumption of political violence. The peace process later resumed, and it reached a point of renewed tension in 1998, especially following the deaths of three Catholic children in Orange Order-related riots in mid-July. Sinn Féin
had accepted the Mitchell Principles
, which involved commitment to non-violence, in September 1997 as part of the peace process negotiations. Dissident
members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
(PIRA), who saw this as a betrayal of the republican struggle
for a united Ireland
, left to form the Real Irish Republican Army
(RIRA) in October 1997.
The RIRA began its paramilitary campaign against the Agreement with an attempted car bombing in Banbridge
, County Down
on 7 January 1998, which involved a 300 lb explosive that was defused by security forces. Later that year, it mounted attacks in Moira
, Portadown
, Belleek
, Newtownhamilton
and Newry
, as well as bombing Banbridge again on 1 August, which caused thirty-five injuries and no deaths. The attack at Omagh took place thirteen weeks after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which had been intended to be a comprehensive solution to the Troubles and had broad support both in Ireland and internationally.
was stolen from Carrickmacross
, County Monaghan
, in the Republic of Ireland. The perpetrators replaced its Republic of Ireland number plates
with false Northern Ireland plates. On the day of the bombing, they drove the car across the Irish border and at about 14:19 parked the vehicle filled with 230 kg [500 pounds] of fertiliser-based explosives outside S.D. Kells' clothes shop in Omagh's Lower Market Street, on the southern side near its intersection with Dublin Road. They could not find a parking space near the intended target, the Omagh courthouse. The car (with its false registration number MDZ 5211) had arrived from an easterly direction. The two male occupants then armed the bomb and upon exiting the car, walked east down Market Street towards Campsie Road.
Three phone calls were made warning of a bomb in Omagh, using the same codeword that had been used in the Real IRA's bomb attack in Banbridge two weeks earlier. At 14:32, a warning was telephoned to Ulster Television saying, "There's a bomb, courthouse, Omagh, main street, 500lb, explosion 30 minutes." One minute later, the office received a second warning saying, "Martha Pope (which was the RIRA's code word), bomb, Omagh town, 15 minutes". The next minute, the Coleraine
office of the Samaritans
received a call stating that a bomb would go off on "main street" about 200 yards (182.9 m) from the courthouse. The recipients passed on the information to the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC).
The BBC News
stated that police "were clearing an area near the local courthouse, 40 minutes after receiving a telephone warning, when the bomb detonated. But the warning was unclear and the wrong area was evacuated". The warnings mentioned "main street" when no street by that name existed in Omagh, although Market Street was the main shopping street in the town. The nature of the warnings led the police to cordon off High Street and to move people down the hill from the top of that street and the area around the courthouse to the bottom of Market Street where the bomb was actually placed. The courthouse is roughly 400 metres from the spot where the car bomb was parked.
in the crowded shopping area, killing outright 21 people who had been in the vicinity of the vehicle. Eight more people would die on the way to or in hospital. The car burst into flames and was blown apart, with molten shrapnel, shards of glass, and car parts flying in all directions for 300 yards. The powerful blast wave which followed tore limbs and clothing off people, and even decapitated one woman as it travelled in a direct line, rebounding off the buildings. The explosion left a crater 80 centimetres deep and three metres wide where several bodies were later found; it had rapidly filled with water from a broken main. Shops on both sides of the narrow street were devastated with fallen masonry and debris covering many of the dead and injured. The deceased victims included a pregnant woman, six children, and six teenagers, most of whom had died on the spot.
Injured survivor Marion Radford described hearing an "unearthly bang", followed by "an eeriness, a darkness that had just come over the place", then the screams as she saw "bits of bodies, limbs or something" on the ground while she searched for her 16 year-old son, Alan. She later discovered he had been killed only yards away from her, the two having become separated minutes before the blast.
In a statement on the same day as the bombing, RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan
accused the RIRA of deliberately trying to direct civilians to the bombing site. British government prosecutor Gordon Kerr QC
called the warnings "not only wrong but... meaningless" and stated that the nature of the warnings made it inevitable that the evacuations would lead to the bomb site. The RIRA strongly denied that it intended to target civilians. It also stated that the warnings were not intended to lead people to the bombing site. During the 2003 Special Criminal Court
trial of RIRA director Michael McKevitt
, witnesses for the prosecution stated that the inaccurate warnings were accidental.
and the Erne Hospital. A local leisure centre was set up as a casualty field centre, and Lisanelly Barracks, an army base served as an impromptu morgue
. The Conflict Archive on the Internet
project has stated that rescue workers described the scene as "battlefield conditions". Tyrone County Hospital
became overwhelmed, and appealed for local doctors
to come in to help.
Because of the stretched emergency services, people used buses, cars and helicopters to take the victims to other hospitals in Northern Ireland, including the Royal Victoria Hospital
in Belfast
and Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry
. A Tyrone County Hospital
spokesman stated that they treated 108 casualties, 44 of whom had to be transferred to other hospitals. Paul McCormick of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said that, "The injuries are horrific, from amputees, to severe head injuries to serious burns, and among them are women and children."
The day after the bombing, the relatives and friends of the dead and injured used Omagh Leisure Centre to post news. The Spanish Ambassador to Ireland personally visited some of the injured and churches across Northern Ireland called for a national day of mourning. Church of Ireland
Archbishop
of Armagh
Robin Eames
stated on BBC Radio
that, "From the Church's point of view, all I am concerned about are not political arguments, not political niceties. I am concerned about the torment of ordinary people who don't deserve this."
The nature of the bombing created a strong international and local outcry against the RIRA and in favour of the Northern Ireland peace process
. British
Prime Minister
Tony Blair
called the bombing an "appalling act of savagery and evil." Queen Elizabeth II expressed her sympathies to the victim's families, while HRH The Prince of Wales paid a visit to the town and spoke with the families of some of the victims. The Pope
and US
President
Bill Clinton
, who shortly afterwards visited Omagh with his wife Hillary, also expressed their sympathies. Social Democratic and Labour Party
President John Hume
called the perpetrators of the bombing "undiluted fascists".
Sinn Féin
leader Martin McGuinness
said that, "This appalling act was carried out by those opposed to the peace process". Party president Gerry Adams
said that, "I am totally horrified by this action. I condemn it without any equivocation whatsoever." McGuinness mentioned the fact that both Catholics and Protestants alike were injured and killed, saying, "All of them were suffering together. I think all them were asking the question 'Why?', because so many of them had great expectations, great hopes for the future." Sinn Féin as an organization initially refused to co-operate with the investigation into the attack, citing the involvement of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. On 17 May 2007, Martin McGuinness stated that Irish republicans would co-operate with an independent, international investigation if one is created.
On 22 August 1998, the Irish National Liberation Army
called a ceasefire in its operations against the British government. The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism has accused the republican paramilitary
organization of providing supplies for the bombing. The INLA continued to observe the ceasefire although it remains opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. It recently began decommissioning its arms. The RIRA also suspended operations for a short time after the Omagh bombing before returning to violence. The RIRA came pressure from the Provisional Irish Republican Army
after the bombing; PIRA members visited the homes of 60 people connected with the RIRA and ordered them to disband and stop interfering with PIRA arms dumps. The BBC News
stated that, "Like the other bombings in the early part of 1998 in places like Lisburn and Banbridge, Omagh was a conscious attempt by republicans who disagreed with the political strategy of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, to destabilise Northern Ireland in that vulnerable moment of hope. It failed - but there is a terrible irony to the way in which the campaign was halted only by the wave of revulsion triggered by the carnage at Omagh."
On 9 October 2000, the BBC's Panorama
programme aired the special Who Bombed Omagh? hosted by journalist
John Ware. The programme quoted RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan as saying, "sadly up to this point we haven't been able to charge anyone with this terrible atrocity". The programme alleged that the police on both sides of the Irish border knew the identity of the bombers. It stated that, "As the bomb car and the scout car headed for the border, the police believe they communicated by mobile
phone. This is based on an analysis of calls made in the hours before, during and after the bombing. This
analysis may prove to be the key to the Omagh bomb investigation." Using the phone records, the programme gave the names of the four prime suspects as Oliver Traynor, Liam Campbell
, Colm Murphy
, and Seamus Daly
. The police had leaked the information to the BBC since it was too circumstantial and coincidental to be used in court.
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson
praised the Panorama programme, calling it "a very powerful and very professional piece of work". Irish Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern
criticised it, saying that "bandying around names on television" could hinder attempts to secure convictions. First Minister David Trimble
stated that he had "very grave doubts" about it. Lawrence Rush, whose wife Elizabeth died in the bombing, tried legally to block the programme from being broadcast, saying, "This is media justice, we can't allow this to happen". Democratic Unionist Party
assembly member
Oliver Gibson, whose niece Esther died in the bombing, stated that the government did not have the will to pursue those responsible and welcomed the programme.
The police believe that the bombing of BBC Television Centre
in London
on 4 March 2001 was a revenge attack for the broadcast. On 9 April 2003, the five RIRA members behind the BBC office's bombing were convicted and sentenced for between 16 and 22 years.
, from Ravensdale, County Louth
, was charged three days later for conspiracy and was convicted on 23 January 2002 by the Republic's Special Criminal Court
. He is, as of January 2008, the only person ever convicted in connection with the explosion. He was sentenced to fourteen years. In January 2005, Murphy's conviction was quashed and a retrial ordered by the Court of Criminal Appeal
, on the grounds that two Gardaí had falsified interview notes, and that Murphy's previous convictions were improperly taken into account by the trial judges.
On 28 October 2000, the families of four children killed in the bombing — James Barker, 12, Samantha McFarland, 17, Lorraine Wilson, 15, and 20-month-old Breda Devine — launched a civil action against the suspects named by the Panorama programme. On 15 March 2001, the families of all twenty-nine people killed in the bombing launched a £2-million civil action against RIRA suspects Seamus McKenna, Michael McKevitt
, Liam Campbell
, Colm Murphy
, and Seamus Daly
. Former Northern Ireland
secretaries Peter Mandelson
, Tom King
, Peter Brooke
, Lord Hurd, Lord Prior
, and Lord Merlyn-Rees signed up in support of the plaintiffs' legal fund. The civil action began in Northern Ireland on 7 April 2008.
On 6 September 2006, Murphy's nephew Sean Hoey, an electrician from Jonesborough
, County Armagh, went on trial accused of 29 counts of murder, and terrorism and explosives charges. Upon its completion, Hoey's trial found on 20 December 2007 that he was not guilty of all 56 charges against him.
On 24 January 2008, former Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan apologised to the victims' families for the lack of convictions in relation to the Omagh bombing. This apology was rejected by some of the victims' families. After the Hoey verdict, BBC News
reporter Kevin Connolly stated that, "The Omagh families were dignified in defeat, as they have been dignified at every stage of their fight for justice. Their campaigning will go on, but the prospect is surely receding now that anyone will ever be convicted of murdering their husbands and brothers and sisters and wives and children." Police Service of Northern Ireland
Chief Constable
Sir Hugh Orde
stated that he believed there would be no further prosecutions.
On 8 June 2009, the civil case taken by victims' relatives concluded, with Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly being found to have been responsible for the bombing. Seamus McKenna was cleared of involvement. They were held liable for £1.6 million of damages. It was described as a "landmark" damages award internationally.
Nuala O'Loan
published a report on 12 December 2001 that strongly criticised the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) over its handling of the bombing investigation. Her report stated that RUC officers had ignored the previous warnings about a bomb and had failed to act on crucial intelligence. She went on to say that officers had been uncooperative and defensive during her inquiry. RUC officers said that they had moved people towards the bombing site because the warnings had mentioned the courthouse. The report concluded that, "The victims, their families, the people of Omagh and officers of the RUC were let down by defective leadership, poor judgement and a lack of urgency." It recommended the setting up of a new investigation team independent of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland
(PSNI), which had since replaced the RUC, led by a senior officer from an outside police force.
Initially, the Police Association, which represents both senior officers and rank and file members of the Northern Ireland police, went to court to try to block the release of the O'Loan report. The Association stated that, "The ombudsman's report and associated decisions constitute a misuse of her statutory powers, responsibilities and functions." The group later dropped its efforts. RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan called the report "grossly unfair" and "an erroneous conclusion reached in advance and then a desperate attempt to find anything that might happen to fit in with that." Other senior police officers also disputed the report's findings. Flanagan issued a 190 page counter-report in response, and has also stated that he has considered taking legal action. He argued that the multiple warnings were given by the RIRA to cause confusion and lead to a greater loss of life. Assistant Chief Constables Alan McQuillan and Sam Kincaid sent affidavits giving information that supported the report.
The families of the victims expressed varying reactions to the report. Kevin Skelton, whose wife died in the attack, said that, "After the bomb at Omagh, we were told by Tony Blair and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, that no stone would be left unturned ... It seems to me that a lot of stones have been left unturned," but then expressed doubt that the bombing could have been prevented. Lawrence Rush, whose wife also died in the attack, said that, "There's no reason why Omagh should have happened - the police have been in dereliction of their duty." Other Omagh residents said that the police did all that they could. The Belfast Telegraph called the report a "watershed in police accountability" and stated that it "broke the taboo around official criticism of police in Northern Ireland". Upon leaving office on 5 November 2007, Nuala O'Loan
stated that the report was not a personal battle between herself and Sir Ronnie and did not lead to one. She also stated that the "recommendations which we made were complied with".
using the pseudonym
Kevin Fulton
publicly stated that, three days before the Omagh bombing, he told his MI5
handlers
that the RIRA was preparing a bomb attack and then gave the bomb-maker's name and location. He stated that MI5 did not pass his information over to the police. Sir Ronnie Flanagan called the allegations "an outrageous untruth". In September 2001, British security forces informer
Willie Carlin stated that Nuala O'Loan
's associates had obtained evidence confirming Fulton's allegations. A spokesman for the Ombudsman neither confirmed nor denied Carlin's assertion when asked.
On 19 October 2003, a transcript was released of a conversation between an informer
who stole cars on behalf of the RIRA, Paddy Dixon, and his police handler, John White, recorded shortly before Dixon fled the Republic of Ireland on 10 January 2002. Dixon said in the transcript that "Omagh is going to blow up in their faces". On 21 February 2004, PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde called for the Republic of Ireland to hand over Dixon. In March 2006, Chief Constable Orde stated that "security services did not withhold intelligence that was relevant or would have progressed the Omagh inquiry". He also stated that the dissident republican militants investigated by MI5 were members of a different cell than the perpetrators of the Omagh bombing.
programme alleged that GCHQ monitored the mobile phone calls of the bombers on the day of the bombing. Later, the transcripts were sent to Special Branch
RUC.
decided to appoint a panel of independent experts to review the police's investigation of the bombing. Some of the relatives of the bombing victims criticised the decision, saying that an international public inquiry covering both the Republic of Ireland
and Northern Ireland
should be established instead. The review is to determine whether enough evidence exists for further prosecutions. It is also to investigate the possible perjury
of two police witnesses made during Sean Hoey's trial. Sinn Féin
Policing Board member Alex Maskey
stated that, "Sinn Féin fully supports the families' right to call for a full cross-border independent inquiry while the Policing Board has its clear and legal obligation to scrutinise the police handling of the investigations." He also stated that, "We recognise that the board has a major responsibility in carrying out our duty in holding the PSNI to account in the interests of justice for the Omagh families".
, such as the 2004 Madrid train bombings. The group has protested outside meetings of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement
, an Irish republican political activist group opposed to the Good Friday Agreement that the families believe is part of the RIRA.
In April 2000, the group argued that the attack breached Article 57 of the Geneva Convention and stated that they will pursue the alleged bombers using international law. Michael Gallagher told BBC Radio Ulster that, "The republican movement refused to co-operate and those people hold the key to solving this mystery. Because they have difficulty in working with the RUC and Gardaí, we can't get justice." In January 2002, Gallagher told BBC News that, "There is such a deeply-held sense of frustration and depression" and called the anti-terrorist legislation passed in the wake of the Omagh bombing "ineffective"." He expressed support for the controversial Panorama programme, stating that it reminded "people that what happened in Omagh is still capable of happening in other towns". In February 2002, Prime Minister
Tony Blair
declined a written request by the group to meet with him at Downing Street
. Group members accused the Prime Minister of ignoring concerns about the police's handling of the bombing investigation. A Downing Street spokesman stated that, "The Prime Minister of course understands the relatives' concerns, but [he] believes that a meeting with the Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office is the right place to air their concerns at this stage."
The death of Michael Gallagher's son along with his and other families' experiences in the Omagh Support and Self Help Group formed the story of the Channel 4
television film Omagh
. Film-maker Paul Greengrass
stated that "the families of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group have been in the public eye throughout the last five years, pursuing a legal campaign, shortly to come before the courts, with far reaching implications for all of us and it feels the right moment for them to be heard, to bring their story to a wider audience so we can all understand the journey they have made." In promotion for the film, Channel 4 stated that the group had pursued "a patient, determined, indomitable campaign to bring those responsible for the bomb to justice, and to hold to account politicians and police on both sides of the border who promised so much in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity but who in the families' eyes have delivered all too little."
hard rock
band Def Leppard
, as noted in the commentary of their album Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection. The band members wrote the song while they were developing their album
Euphoria. Guitarist
Vivian Campbell
stated that "this had happened as Ireland was just getting used to the idea of peace". Vocalist Joe Elliott
has said that, "We had the telly on with the sound off and basically wrote our own soundtrack."
Another song inspired by the bombings was "Peace on Earth
" by rock group U2
. It includes the line, "They're reading names out over the radio. All the folks the rest of us won't get to know. Sean and Julia, Gareth, Ann, and Breda." The five names mentioned are five of the victims from this attack. Another line, "She never got to say goodbye, To see the colour in his eyes, now he's in the dirt," was about how James Barker, a victim, was remembered by his mother Donna Maria Barker in an article in the Irish Times after the bombing in Omagh. The Edge
has described the song as "the most bitter song U2 has ever written". The names of all 29 people killed during the bombing were recited at the conclusion of the group's anti-violence anthem "Sunday Bloody Sunday
" during the Elevation Tour
.
established the Omagh Memorial Working Group to devise a permanent memorial to the bombing victims. Its members come from both public and private sectors alongside representatives from the Omagh Churches Forum and members of the victims' families. The chief executive of the Omagh Council, John McKinney, stated in March 2000 that, "we are working towards a memorial. It is a very sensitive issue." In April 2007, the Council announced the launch of a public art design competition by the Omagh Memorial Working Group. The group's goal was to create a permanent memorial in time for the tenth anniversary of the bombing on 15 August 2008. It has a total budget of £240,000.
Since space for a monument on Market Street itself is limited, the final memorial was to be split between the actual bombing site and the temporary Memorial Garden about 300 metres away. Artist Sean Hillen and architect Desmond Fitzgerald won the contest with a design that, in the words of the Irish Times, "centres on that most primal yet mobile of elements: light." A heliostatic mirror was to be placed in the memorial park tracking the sun in order to project a constant beam of sunlight onto 31 small mirrors, each etched with the name of a victim. All the mirrors were then to bounce the light on to a heart-shaped crystal within an obelisk
pillar that stands at the bomb site.
In September 2007, the Omagh Council's proposed wording on a memorial plaque — "dissident republican car bomb" — brought it into conflict with several of the victims' families. Michael Gallagher has stated that "there can be no ambiguity over what happened on 15 August 1998, and no dancing around words can distract from the truth." The Council appointed an independent mediator in an attempt to reach an agreement with those families. Construction started on the memorial on 27 July 2008.
On 15 August 2008, a memorial service was held in Omagh. Senior government representatives from the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the Stormont Assembly were present, along with relatives of many of the victims. A number of bereaved families, however, boycotted the service and held their own service the following Sunday. They argued that the Sinn Féin
-dominated Omagh council would not acknowledge that republicans
were responsible for the bombing.
Car bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
attack carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army
Real Irish Republican Army
The Real Irish Republican Army, otherwise known as the Real IRA , and styling itself as Óglaigh na hÉireann , is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which aims to bring about a united Ireland...
(RIRA), a splinter group of former Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
members opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, on Saturday 15 August 1998, in Omagh
Omagh
Omagh is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The town, which is the largest in the county, had a population of 19,910 at the 2001 Census. Omagh also contains the headquarters of Omagh District Council and...
, County Tyrone
County Tyrone
Historically Tyrone stretched as far north as Lough Foyle, and comprised part of modern day County Londonderry east of the River Foyle. The majority of County Londonderry was carved out of Tyrone between 1610-1620 when that land went to the Guilds of London to set up profit making schemes based on...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Twenty-nine people died as a result of the attack and approximately 220 people were injured. The attack was described by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as "Northern Ireland's worst single terrorist atrocity" and by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, as an "appalling act of savagery and evil". Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
leaders Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
and Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
condemned the attack and the RIRA itself.
The victims included people from many different backgrounds: Protestants, Catholics, a Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
teenager, five other teenagers, six children, a woman pregnant with twins, two Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
tourists, and other tourists on a day trip from the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. The nature of the bombing created a strong international and local outcry against the RIRA, which later apologised, and spurred on the Northern Ireland peace process
Northern Ireland peace process
The peace process, when discussing the history of Northern Ireland, is often considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Belfast Agreement, and subsequent political developments.-Towards a...
.
A retrospective report by the Police Ombudsman
Police Ombudsman
The Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is a non-departmental public body intended to provide an independent, impartial police complaints system for the people and police under the Police Acts of 1998 and 2000.-Personnel:...
, Nuala O'Loan
Nuala O'Loan
Nuala Patricia O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, DBE is a noted public figure in Northern Ireland. She was the first Police Ombudsman in between 1999 and 2007. In July 2009, it was announced that she was to be appointed to the House of Lords. Consequently, she was raised to the peerage as Baroness O'Loan,...
, in December 2001 concluded that people "were let down by defective leadership, poor judgement and a lack of urgency" in the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
(RUC). The RUC has obtained circumstantial and coincidental evidence against some suspects, but it has not come up with anything to convict anyone of the bombing. Builder and publican Colm Murphy
Colm Murphy
Colm Murphy is an Irish publican and building contractor who was the first person to be convicted in connection with the Omagh bombing, but whose conviction was overturned on appeal...
was tried, convicted, and then released after it was revealed that the Gardaí forged interview notes used in the case. Murphy's nephew Sean Hoey was also tried and found not guilty. Police Service of Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....
Chief Constable
Chief Constable
Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...
Sir Hugh Orde
Hugh Orde
Sir Hugh Stephen Roden Orde, OBE, QPM is the current President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, representing the 44 police forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Between 2002-2009 he was the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland .Sir Hugh joined London's...
said that he expects no further prosecutions. In June 2009, the families of all the killed victims won a £1.6 million civil action against four unconvicted suspects.
Background
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
had failed in 1996 and there was a resumption of political violence. The peace process later resumed, and it reached a point of renewed tension in 1998, especially following the deaths of three Catholic children in Orange Order-related riots in mid-July. Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
had accepted the Mitchell Principles
Mitchell Principles
The Mitchell Principles were six ground rules agreed by the Irish and British governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland regarding participation in talks on the future of the region. They were named for United States Senator George Mitchell, who was heavily involved in the Northern...
, which involved commitment to non-violence, in September 1997 as part of the peace process negotiations. Dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
(PIRA), who saw this as a betrayal of the republican struggle
Physical force Irish republicanism
Physical force Irish republicanism, is a term used to describe the recurring appearance of non-parliamentary violent insurrection in Ireland between 1798 and the present...
for a united Ireland
United Ireland
A united Ireland is the term used to refer to the idea of a sovereign state which covers all of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. The island of Ireland includes the territory of two independent sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland, which covers 26 counties of the island, and the...
, left to form the Real Irish Republican Army
Real Irish Republican Army
The Real Irish Republican Army, otherwise known as the Real IRA , and styling itself as Óglaigh na hÉireann , is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which aims to bring about a united Ireland...
(RIRA) in October 1997.
The RIRA began its paramilitary campaign against the Agreement with an attempted car bombing in Banbridge
Banbridge
Banbridge is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road. It was named after a bridge built over the Bann in 1712. The town grew as a coaching stop on the road from Belfast to Dublin and thrived from Irish linen manufacturing...
, County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
on 7 January 1998, which involved a 300 lb explosive that was defused by security forces. Later that year, it mounted attacks in Moira
Moira, County Down
Moira is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is in the northwest of the county, near the borders with counties Antrim and Armagh. The M1 motorway and Dublin–Belfast railway line are nearby. The settlement has existed since time immemorial...
, Portadown
Portadown
Portadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about 23 miles south-west of Belfast...
, Belleek
Belleek, County Fermanagh
Belleek is a village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. While the greater part of the village lies within County Fermanagh, part of it crosses the border into County Donegal, a part of Ulster that lies in the Republic of Ireland. This makes Belleek the western-most village in the United Kingdom...
, Newtownhamilton
Newtownhamilton
Newtownhamilton is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Tullyvallan and the barony of Upper Fews. It is part of the Newry and Mourne District Council area...
and Newry
Newry
Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...
, as well as bombing Banbridge again on 1 August, which caused thirty-five injuries and no deaths. The attack at Omagh took place thirteen weeks after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which had been intended to be a comprehensive solution to the Troubles and had broad support both in Ireland and internationally.
Preparation and warnings
On 13 August, a maroon Vauxhall CavalierVauxhall Cavalier
The Vauxhall Cavalier is a large family car sold primarily in the UK by Vauxhall Motors, the British division of General Motors , from 1975 to 1995...
was stolen from Carrickmacross
Carrickmacross
Carrickmacross or Carrickmacros is a town in County Monaghan, Ireland. The town and environs had a population of 4,387 according to the 2006 census, making it the second largest town in the county. The town won the prestigious European Entente Florale Silver Medal Award. It is a market town which...
, County Monaghan
County Monaghan
County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...
, in the Republic of Ireland. The perpetrators replaced its Republic of Ireland number plates
Irish vehicle registration plates
Registration marks on number plates in Ireland issued since 1987 have the format YY-CC-SSSSSS where the components are:* YY — a 2-digit year * CC — a 1- or 2-character county identifier Registration marks on number plates in Ireland issued since 1987 have the format YY-CC-SSSSSS where...
with false Northern Ireland plates. On the day of the bombing, they drove the car across the Irish border and at about 14:19 parked the vehicle filled with 230 kg [500 pounds] of fertiliser-based explosives outside S.D. Kells' clothes shop in Omagh's Lower Market Street, on the southern side near its intersection with Dublin Road. They could not find a parking space near the intended target, the Omagh courthouse. The car (with its false registration number MDZ 5211) had arrived from an easterly direction. The two male occupants then armed the bomb and upon exiting the car, walked east down Market Street towards Campsie Road.
Three phone calls were made warning of a bomb in Omagh, using the same codeword that had been used in the Real IRA's bomb attack in Banbridge two weeks earlier. At 14:32, a warning was telephoned to Ulster Television saying, "There's a bomb, courthouse, Omagh, main street, 500lb, explosion 30 minutes." One minute later, the office received a second warning saying, "Martha Pope (which was the RIRA's code word), bomb, Omagh town, 15 minutes". The next minute, the Coleraine
Coleraine
Coleraine is a large town near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It is northwest of Belfast and east of Derry, both of which are linked by major roads and railway connections...
office of the Samaritans
Samaritans (charity)
Samaritans is a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, often through their telephone helpline. The name comes from the Biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, though the organisation...
received a call stating that a bomb would go off on "main street" about 200 yards (182.9 m) from the courthouse. The recipients passed on the information to the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
(RUC).
The BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
stated that police "were clearing an area near the local courthouse, 40 minutes after receiving a telephone warning, when the bomb detonated. But the warning was unclear and the wrong area was evacuated". The warnings mentioned "main street" when no street by that name existed in Omagh, although Market Street was the main shopping street in the town. The nature of the warnings led the police to cordon off High Street and to move people down the hill from the top of that street and the area around the courthouse to the bottom of Market Street where the bomb was actually placed. The courthouse is roughly 400 metres from the spot where the car bomb was parked.
Explosion
The car bomb detonated at about 15:10 BSTBritish Summer Time
Western European Summer Time is a summer daylight saving time scheme, 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in the following places:* the Canary Islands* Portugal * Ireland...
in the crowded shopping area, killing outright 21 people who had been in the vicinity of the vehicle. Eight more people would die on the way to or in hospital. The car burst into flames and was blown apart, with molten shrapnel, shards of glass, and car parts flying in all directions for 300 yards. The powerful blast wave which followed tore limbs and clothing off people, and even decapitated one woman as it travelled in a direct line, rebounding off the buildings. The explosion left a crater 80 centimetres deep and three metres wide where several bodies were later found; it had rapidly filled with water from a broken main. Shops on both sides of the narrow street were devastated with fallen masonry and debris covering many of the dead and injured. The deceased victims included a pregnant woman, six children, and six teenagers, most of whom had died on the spot.
Injured survivor Marion Radford described hearing an "unearthly bang", followed by "an eeriness, a darkness that had just come over the place", then the screams as she saw "bits of bodies, limbs or something" on the ground while she searched for her 16 year-old son, Alan. She later discovered he had been killed only yards away from her, the two having become separated minutes before the blast.
In a statement on the same day as the bombing, RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan
Ronnie Flanagan
Sir Ronald Flanagan, GBE, QPM, was the Home Office Chief Inspector of Constabulary for the United Kingdom excluding Scotland...
accused the RIRA of deliberately trying to direct civilians to the bombing site. British government prosecutor Gordon Kerr QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
called the warnings "not only wrong but... meaningless" and stated that the nature of the warnings made it inevitable that the evacuations would lead to the bomb site. The RIRA strongly denied that it intended to target civilians. It also stated that the warnings were not intended to lead people to the bombing site. During the 2003 Special Criminal Court
Special Criminal Court
The Special Criminal Court is a juryless criminal court in the Republic of Ireland which tries terrorist and organized crime cases. Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to establish "special courts" with wide-ranging powers when "the ordinary courts are inadequate to secure...
trial of RIRA director Michael McKevitt
Michael McKevitt
Michael McKevitt is an Irish republican who was convicted of directing terrorism as the leader of the paramilitary organisation, the Real IRA.-Background:...
, witnesses for the prosecution stated that the inaccurate warnings were accidental.
Aftermath
The BBC News stated that those "who survived the car bomb blast in a busy shopping area of the town described scenes of utter carnage with the dead and dying strewn across the street and other victims screaming for help". The injured were initially taken to two local hospitals, the Tyrone County HospitalTyrone County Hospital
Tyrone County Hospital is the main hospital in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The hospital has occupied the same site in the town since 1899.-Proposed closure:...
and the Erne Hospital. A local leisure centre was set up as a casualty field centre, and Lisanelly Barracks, an army base served as an impromptu morgue
Morgue
A morgue or mortuary is used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification, or removal for autopsy or disposal by burial, cremation or otherwise...
. The Conflict Archive on the Internet
Conflict Archive on the Internet
CAIN is a database containing information about Conflict and Politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the Present. The project began in 1996, with the website launching in 1997. The project is based within the University of Ulster at its Magee campus...
project has stated that rescue workers described the scene as "battlefield conditions". Tyrone County Hospital
Tyrone County Hospital
Tyrone County Hospital is the main hospital in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The hospital has occupied the same site in the town since 1899.-Proposed closure:...
became overwhelmed, and appealed for local doctors
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
to come in to help.
Because of the stretched emergency services, people used buses, cars and helicopters to take the victims to other hospitals in Northern Ireland, including the Royal Victoria Hospital
Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast
The Royal Victoria Hospital is a hospital in Belfast, Northern Ireland....
in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
. A Tyrone County Hospital
Tyrone County Hospital
Tyrone County Hospital is the main hospital in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The hospital has occupied the same site in the town since 1899.-Proposed closure:...
spokesman stated that they treated 108 casualties, 44 of whom had to be transferred to other hospitals. Paul McCormick of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said that, "The injuries are horrific, from amputees, to severe head injuries to serious burns, and among them are women and children."
The day after the bombing, the relatives and friends of the dead and injured used Omagh Leisure Centre to post news. The Spanish Ambassador to Ireland personally visited some of the injured and churches across Northern Ireland called for a national day of mourning. Church of Ireland
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...
Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Armagh
Armagh
Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...
Robin Eames
Robin Eames
Robin Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames OM was the Anglican Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1986 to 2006.-Education:...
stated on BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
that, "From the Church's point of view, all I am concerned about are not political arguments, not political niceties. I am concerned about the torment of ordinary people who don't deserve this."
Reactions
Northern Ireland peace process
The peace process, when discussing the history of Northern Ireland, is often considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Belfast Agreement, and subsequent political developments.-Towards a...
. British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
called the bombing an "appalling act of savagery and evil." Queen Elizabeth II expressed her sympathies to the victim's families, while HRH The Prince of Wales paid a visit to the town and spoke with the families of some of the victims. The Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
and US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, who shortly afterwards visited Omagh with his wife Hillary, also expressed their sympathies. Social Democratic and Labour Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
President John Hume
John Hume
John Hume is a former Irish politician from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was a founding member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and was co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, with David Trimble....
called the perpetrators of the bombing "undiluted fascists".
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
leader Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
said that, "This appalling act was carried out by those opposed to the peace process". Party president Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
said that, "I am totally horrified by this action. I condemn it without any equivocation whatsoever." McGuinness mentioned the fact that both Catholics and Protestants alike were injured and killed, saying, "All of them were suffering together. I think all them were asking the question 'Why?', because so many of them had great expectations, great hopes for the future." Sinn Féin as an organization initially refused to co-operate with the investigation into the attack, citing the involvement of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. On 17 May 2007, Martin McGuinness stated that Irish republicans would co-operate with an independent, international investigation if one is created.
On 22 August 1998, the Irish National Liberation Army
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....
called a ceasefire in its operations against the British government. The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism has accused the republican paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
organization of providing supplies for the bombing. The INLA continued to observe the ceasefire although it remains opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. It recently began decommissioning its arms. The RIRA also suspended operations for a short time after the Omagh bombing before returning to violence. The RIRA came pressure from the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
after the bombing; PIRA members visited the homes of 60 people connected with the RIRA and ordered them to disband and stop interfering with PIRA arms dumps. The BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
stated that, "Like the other bombings in the early part of 1998 in places like Lisburn and Banbridge, Omagh was a conscious attempt by republicans who disagreed with the political strategy of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, to destabilise Northern Ireland in that vulnerable moment of hope. It failed - but there is a terrible irony to the way in which the campaign was halted only by the wave of revulsion triggered by the carnage at Omagh."
Allegations
No group claimed responsibility on the day of the attack, but the RUC suspected the RIRA. The RIRA had carried out a car bombing in Banbridge, County Down, two weeks before the Omagh bombing. Three days after the attack, the RIRA claimed responsibility and apologised for the attack. On 7 February 2008, a RIRA spokesman stated that, "The IRA had minimal involvement in Omagh. Our code word was used; nothing more. To have stated this at the time would have been lost in an understandable wave of emotion" and "Omagh was an absolute tragedy. Any loss of civilian life is regrettable."On 9 October 2000, the BBC's Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
programme aired the special Who Bombed Omagh? hosted by journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
John Ware. The programme quoted RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan as saying, "sadly up to this point we haven't been able to charge anyone with this terrible atrocity". The programme alleged that the police on both sides of the Irish border knew the identity of the bombers. It stated that, "As the bomb car and the scout car headed for the border, the police believe they communicated by mobile
phone. This is based on an analysis of calls made in the hours before, during and after the bombing. This
analysis may prove to be the key to the Omagh bomb investigation." Using the phone records, the programme gave the names of the four prime suspects as Oliver Traynor, Liam Campbell
Liam Campbell
Liam Campbell is an Irish republican from Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland.His brother Sean died in December 1975, when a landmine he was preparing for an attack on the British Army exploded prematurely. His other brother Peter served 14 years in prison for Provisional Irish Republican Army offences...
, Colm Murphy
Colm Murphy
Colm Murphy is an Irish publican and building contractor who was the first person to be convicted in connection with the Omagh bombing, but whose conviction was overturned on appeal...
, and Seamus Daly
Seamus Daly
Seamus Daly is an Irish republican from Kilmurray, Castleblayney, County Monaghan. He pleaded guilty to being a member of the Real Irish Republican Army in 2004, and was sentenced to three and half years in prison...
. The police had leaked the information to the BBC since it was too circumstantial and coincidental to be used in court.
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner...
praised the Panorama programme, calling it "a very powerful and very professional piece of work". Irish Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Bertie Ahern
Bertie Ahern
Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....
criticised it, saying that "bandying around names on television" could hinder attempts to secure convictions. First Minister David Trimble
David Trimble
William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, PC , is a politician from Northern Ireland. He served as Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party , was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland , and was a Member of the British Parliament . He is currently a life peer for the Conservative Party...
stated that he had "very grave doubts" about it. Lawrence Rush, whose wife Elizabeth died in the bombing, tried legally to block the programme from being broadcast, saying, "This is media justice, we can't allow this to happen". Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
assembly member
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
Oliver Gibson, whose niece Esther died in the bombing, stated that the government did not have the will to pursue those responsible and welcomed the programme.
The police believe that the bombing of BBC Television Centre
4 March 2001 BBC bombing
At 12:30 AM on Sunday 4 March 2001, the Real IRA detonated a car bomb outside the BBC's main news centre within BBC Television Centre, on Wood Lane in the White City area of West London....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 4 March 2001 was a revenge attack for the broadcast. On 9 April 2003, the five RIRA members behind the BBC office's bombing were convicted and sentenced for between 16 and 22 years.
Prosecutions and court cases
On 22 September 1998, the RUC and Gardaí arrested twelve men in connection with the bombing. They subsequently released all of them without charge. On 25 February 1999, they questioned and arrested at least seven suspects. Builder and publican Colm MurphyColm Murphy
Colm Murphy is an Irish publican and building contractor who was the first person to be convicted in connection with the Omagh bombing, but whose conviction was overturned on appeal...
, from Ravensdale, County Louth
County Louth
County Louth is a county of Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Louth. Louth County Council is the local authority for the county...
, was charged three days later for conspiracy and was convicted on 23 January 2002 by the Republic's Special Criminal Court
Special Criminal Court
The Special Criminal Court is a juryless criminal court in the Republic of Ireland which tries terrorist and organized crime cases. Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to establish "special courts" with wide-ranging powers when "the ordinary courts are inadequate to secure...
. He is, as of January 2008, the only person ever convicted in connection with the explosion. He was sentenced to fourteen years. In January 2005, Murphy's conviction was quashed and a retrial ordered by the Court of Criminal Appeal
Court of Criminal Appeal
The Court of Criminal Appeal is the name of existing courts of Scotland and Ireland, and an historic court in England and Wales.- Ireland :See Court of Criminal Appeal ...
, on the grounds that two Gardaí had falsified interview notes, and that Murphy's previous convictions were improperly taken into account by the trial judges.
On 28 October 2000, the families of four children killed in the bombing — James Barker, 12, Samantha McFarland, 17, Lorraine Wilson, 15, and 20-month-old Breda Devine — launched a civil action against the suspects named by the Panorama programme. On 15 March 2001, the families of all twenty-nine people killed in the bombing launched a £2-million civil action against RIRA suspects Seamus McKenna, Michael McKevitt
Michael McKevitt
Michael McKevitt is an Irish republican who was convicted of directing terrorism as the leader of the paramilitary organisation, the Real IRA.-Background:...
, Liam Campbell
Liam Campbell
Liam Campbell is an Irish republican from Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland.His brother Sean died in December 1975, when a landmine he was preparing for an attack on the British Army exploded prematurely. His other brother Peter served 14 years in prison for Provisional Irish Republican Army offences...
, Colm Murphy
Colm Murphy
Colm Murphy is an Irish publican and building contractor who was the first person to be convicted in connection with the Omagh bombing, but whose conviction was overturned on appeal...
, and Seamus Daly
Seamus Daly
Seamus Daly is an Irish republican from Kilmurray, Castleblayney, County Monaghan. He pleaded guilty to being a member of the Real Irish Republican Army in 2004, and was sentenced to three and half years in prison...
. Former Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
secretaries Peter Mandelson
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner...
, Tom King
Tom King, Baron King of Bridgwater
Thomas Jeremy King, Baron King of Bridgwater, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1983–92, and was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Bridgwater in Somerset from 1970-2001...
, Peter Brooke
Peter Brooke
Peter Leonard Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and was a Member of Parliament representing the Cities of London and Westminster from...
, Lord Hurd, Lord Prior
James Prior, Baron Prior
James Michael Leathes Prior, Baron Prior, PC, known as "Jim Prior" , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was a Member of Parliament from 1959 to 1987, representing the constituency of Lowestoft from 1959 to 1983 and the renamed constituency of Waveney from 1983 to 1987...
, and Lord Merlyn-Rees signed up in support of the plaintiffs' legal fund. The civil action began in Northern Ireland on 7 April 2008.
On 6 September 2006, Murphy's nephew Sean Hoey, an electrician from Jonesborough
Jonesborough, County Armagh
Jonesborough, known before the Plantation of Ulster as Bollanclare , is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, one kilometre from the border with County Louth in the Republic of Ireland in the Ring of Gullion. It is about 8 kilometres south of Newry. In the 2001 Census it had a...
, County Armagh, went on trial accused of 29 counts of murder, and terrorism and explosives charges. Upon its completion, Hoey's trial found on 20 December 2007 that he was not guilty of all 56 charges against him.
On 24 January 2008, former Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan apologised to the victims' families for the lack of convictions in relation to the Omagh bombing. This apology was rejected by some of the victims' families. After the Hoey verdict, BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
reporter Kevin Connolly stated that, "The Omagh families were dignified in defeat, as they have been dignified at every stage of their fight for justice. Their campaigning will go on, but the prospect is surely receding now that anyone will ever be convicted of murdering their husbands and brothers and sisters and wives and children." Police Service of Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....
Chief Constable
Chief Constable
Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...
Sir Hugh Orde
Hugh Orde
Sir Hugh Stephen Roden Orde, OBE, QPM is the current President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, representing the 44 police forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Between 2002-2009 he was the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland .Sir Hugh joined London's...
stated that he believed there would be no further prosecutions.
On 8 June 2009, the civil case taken by victims' relatives concluded, with Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly being found to have been responsible for the bombing. Seamus McKenna was cleared of involvement. They were held liable for £1.6 million of damages. It was described as a "landmark" damages award internationally.
Police Ombudsman report
Police OmbudsmanPolice Ombudsman
The Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is a non-departmental public body intended to provide an independent, impartial police complaints system for the people and police under the Police Acts of 1998 and 2000.-Personnel:...
Nuala O'Loan
Nuala O'Loan
Nuala Patricia O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, DBE is a noted public figure in Northern Ireland. She was the first Police Ombudsman in between 1999 and 2007. In July 2009, it was announced that she was to be appointed to the House of Lords. Consequently, she was raised to the peerage as Baroness O'Loan,...
published a report on 12 December 2001 that strongly criticised the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
(RUC) over its handling of the bombing investigation. Her report stated that RUC officers had ignored the previous warnings about a bomb and had failed to act on crucial intelligence. She went on to say that officers had been uncooperative and defensive during her inquiry. RUC officers said that they had moved people towards the bombing site because the warnings had mentioned the courthouse. The report concluded that, "The victims, their families, the people of Omagh and officers of the RUC were let down by defective leadership, poor judgement and a lack of urgency." It recommended the setting up of a new investigation team independent of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....
(PSNI), which had since replaced the RUC, led by a senior officer from an outside police force.
Initially, the Police Association, which represents both senior officers and rank and file members of the Northern Ireland police, went to court to try to block the release of the O'Loan report. The Association stated that, "The ombudsman's report and associated decisions constitute a misuse of her statutory powers, responsibilities and functions." The group later dropped its efforts. RUC Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan called the report "grossly unfair" and "an erroneous conclusion reached in advance and then a desperate attempt to find anything that might happen to fit in with that." Other senior police officers also disputed the report's findings. Flanagan issued a 190 page counter-report in response, and has also stated that he has considered taking legal action. He argued that the multiple warnings were given by the RIRA to cause confusion and lead to a greater loss of life. Assistant Chief Constables Alan McQuillan and Sam Kincaid sent affidavits giving information that supported the report.
The families of the victims expressed varying reactions to the report. Kevin Skelton, whose wife died in the attack, said that, "After the bomb at Omagh, we were told by Tony Blair and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, that no stone would be left unturned ... It seems to me that a lot of stones have been left unturned," but then expressed doubt that the bombing could have been prevented. Lawrence Rush, whose wife also died in the attack, said that, "There's no reason why Omagh should have happened - the police have been in dereliction of their duty." Other Omagh residents said that the police did all that they could. The Belfast Telegraph called the report a "watershed in police accountability" and stated that it "broke the taboo around official criticism of police in Northern Ireland". Upon leaving office on 5 November 2007, Nuala O'Loan
Nuala O'Loan
Nuala Patricia O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, DBE is a noted public figure in Northern Ireland. She was the first Police Ombudsman in between 1999 and 2007. In July 2009, it was announced that she was to be appointed to the House of Lords. Consequently, she was raised to the peerage as Baroness O'Loan,...
stated that the report was not a personal battle between herself and Sir Ronnie and did not lead to one. She also stated that the "recommendations which we made were complied with".
Advance warning allegations
On 29 July 2001, a double agentDouble agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
using the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton
"Kevin Fulton" is the pseudonym of Peter Keeley, a British agent from Newry, Northern Ireland who allegedly spied on the Provisional Irish Republican Army for British Military Intelligence....
publicly stated that, three days before the Omagh bombing, he told his MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
handlers
Agent handling
In intelligence organizations, agent handling is the management of agents, principal agents, and agent networks by intelligence officers typically known as case officers.-Human intelligence:...
that the RIRA was preparing a bomb attack and then gave the bomb-maker's name and location. He stated that MI5 did not pass his information over to the police. Sir Ronnie Flanagan called the allegations "an outrageous untruth". In September 2001, British security forces informer
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
Willie Carlin stated that Nuala O'Loan
Nuala O'Loan
Nuala Patricia O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, DBE is a noted public figure in Northern Ireland. She was the first Police Ombudsman in between 1999 and 2007. In July 2009, it was announced that she was to be appointed to the House of Lords. Consequently, she was raised to the peerage as Baroness O'Loan,...
's associates had obtained evidence confirming Fulton's allegations. A spokesman for the Ombudsman neither confirmed nor denied Carlin's assertion when asked.
On 19 October 2003, a transcript was released of a conversation between an informer
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
who stole cars on behalf of the RIRA, Paddy Dixon, and his police handler, John White, recorded shortly before Dixon fled the Republic of Ireland on 10 January 2002. Dixon said in the transcript that "Omagh is going to blow up in their faces". On 21 February 2004, PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde called for the Republic of Ireland to hand over Dixon. In March 2006, Chief Constable Orde stated that "security services did not withhold intelligence that was relevant or would have progressed the Omagh inquiry". He also stated that the dissident republican militants investigated by MI5 were members of a different cell than the perpetrators of the Omagh bombing.
GCHQ monitoring
An investigation by the BBC's PanoramaPanorama
A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model....
programme alleged that GCHQ monitored the mobile phone calls of the bombers on the day of the bombing. Later, the transcripts were sent to Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
RUC.
Independent bombing investigation
On 7 February 2008, the Northern Ireland Policing BoardNorthern Ireland Policing Board
The Northern Ireland Policing Board is the police authority for Northern Ireland, charged with supervising the activities of the Police Service of Northern Ireland...
decided to appoint a panel of independent experts to review the police's investigation of the bombing. Some of the relatives of the bombing victims criticised the decision, saying that an international public inquiry covering both the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
should be established instead. The review is to determine whether enough evidence exists for further prosecutions. It is also to investigate the possible perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
of two police witnesses made during Sean Hoey's trial. Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
Policing Board member Alex Maskey
Alex Maskey
Alex Maskey is an Irish politician who was the first member of Sinn Féin to serve as Belfast's Lord Mayor. He is Sinn Féin's longest sitting councillor and is currently an MLA for South Belfast as well as being a councillor for the Laganbank area of Belfast.-Early life:Maskey was educated at St...
stated that, "Sinn Féin fully supports the families' right to call for a full cross-border independent inquiry while the Policing Board has its clear and legal obligation to scrutinise the police handling of the investigations." He also stated that, "We recognise that the board has a major responsibility in carrying out our duty in holding the PSNI to account in the interests of justice for the Omagh families".
Victims' support group
The families of the victims of the bomb created the Omagh Support and Self Help Group after the bombing. The organisation is led by Michael Gallagher, who lost his 21-year-old son Aidan in the attack. Its web site provides over 5000 newspaper articles, video recordings, audio recordings, and other information sources relating to the events leading up to and following the bombing as well as information about other terrorist attacks. The group's five core objectives are "relief of poverty, sickness, disability of victims", "advancement of education and protection", "raising awareness of needs and experiences of victims, and the effects of terrorism", "welfare rights advice and information", and "improving conditions of life for victims". The group also provides support to victims of other bombings in Ireland, as well other terrorist bombingsTerrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, such as the 2004 Madrid train bombings. The group has protested outside meetings of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement
32 County Sovereignty Movement
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement, often abbreviated to 32CSM or 32csm, is an Irish republican political organisation.The 32CSM's objectives are:* "The restoration of Irish national sovereignty"....
, an Irish republican political activist group opposed to the Good Friday Agreement that the families believe is part of the RIRA.
In April 2000, the group argued that the attack breached Article 57 of the Geneva Convention and stated that they will pursue the alleged bombers using international law. Michael Gallagher told BBC Radio Ulster that, "The republican movement refused to co-operate and those people hold the key to solving this mystery. Because they have difficulty in working with the RUC and Gardaí, we can't get justice." In January 2002, Gallagher told BBC News that, "There is such a deeply-held sense of frustration and depression" and called the anti-terrorist legislation passed in the wake of the Omagh bombing "ineffective"." He expressed support for the controversial Panorama programme, stating that it reminded "people that what happened in Omagh is still capable of happening in other towns". In February 2002, Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
declined a written request by the group to meet with him at Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
. Group members accused the Prime Minister of ignoring concerns about the police's handling of the bombing investigation. A Downing Street spokesman stated that, "The Prime Minister of course understands the relatives' concerns, but [he] believes that a meeting with the Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office is the right place to air their concerns at this stage."
The death of Michael Gallagher's son along with his and other families' experiences in the Omagh Support and Self Help Group formed the story of the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
television film Omagh
Omagh (film)
Omagh was a film dramatising the events surrounding the Omagh bombing and its aftermath, co-produced by Irish state broadcaster RTÉ and UK network Channel 4, and directed by Pete Travis. It was first shown on television in both countries in June, 2004....
. Film-maker Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass is an English film director, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of real-life events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.-Life and career:...
stated that "the families of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group have been in the public eye throughout the last five years, pursuing a legal campaign, shortly to come before the courts, with far reaching implications for all of us and it feels the right moment for them to be heard, to bring their story to a wider audience so we can all understand the journey they have made." In promotion for the film, Channel 4 stated that the group had pursued "a patient, determined, indomitable campaign to bring those responsible for the bomb to justice, and to hold to account politicians and police on both sides of the border who promised so much in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity but who in the families' eyes have delivered all too little."
Media memorials
The bombing inspired the song "Paper Sun" by BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
, as noted in the commentary of their album Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection. The band members wrote the song while they were developing their album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
Euphoria. Guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Vivian Campbell
Vivian Campbell
Vivian Patrick Campbell is a Northern Irish rock guitarist who is a member of Def Leppard and was, from May 2010 to November 2011, a member of Thin Lizzy. Prior to joining Def Leppard in April 1992, he had been a member of Whitesnake, Sweet Savage, Trinity, Riverdogs, and Shadow King...
stated that "this had happened as Ireland was just getting used to the idea of peace". Vocalist Joe Elliott
Joe Elliott
Joseph Thomas "Joe" Elliott Jr is an English singer-songwriter, and musician, best known as the lead vocalist and occasional rhythm guitarist of the British rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of David Bowie cover band, the Cybernauts and the Mott the Hoople cover band, Down...
has said that, "We had the telly on with the sound off and basically wrote our own soundtrack."
Another song inspired by the bombings was "Peace on Earth
Peace on Earth (U2 song)
"Peace on Earth" is a song by rock band U2 and the eighth track on their 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind. Its lyrics were inspired by the Real IRA Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland on 15 August 1998....
" by rock group U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
. It includes the line, "They're reading names out over the radio. All the folks the rest of us won't get to know. Sean and Julia, Gareth, Ann, and Breda." The five names mentioned are five of the victims from this attack. Another line, "She never got to say goodbye, To see the colour in his eyes, now he's in the dirt," was about how James Barker, a victim, was remembered by his mother Donna Maria Barker in an article in the Irish Times after the bombing in Omagh. The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
has described the song as "the most bitter song U2 has ever written". The names of all 29 people killed during the bombing were recited at the conclusion of the group's anti-violence anthem "Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sunday Bloody Sunday (song)
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is the opening track from U2's 1983 album, War. The song was released as the album's third single on 11 March 1983 in Germany and the Netherlands. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is noted for its militaristic drumbeat, harsh guitar, and melodic harmonies...
" during the Elevation Tour
Elevation Tour
The Elevation Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Irish rock band U2. Launched in support of the group's 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind, the tour visited arenas in 2001. After the band's previous two extravagant stadium tours, Zoo TV and PopMart, the Elevation Tour returned the...
.
Omagh memorial
In late 1999, Omagh District CouncilOmagh District Council
Omagh District Council is a local council in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. Its headquarters is in the town of Omagh, which is the traditional county town of Tyrone. The council area is about , making it the second largest local council area in Northern Ireland with a population of just over...
established the Omagh Memorial Working Group to devise a permanent memorial to the bombing victims. Its members come from both public and private sectors alongside representatives from the Omagh Churches Forum and members of the victims' families. The chief executive of the Omagh Council, John McKinney, stated in March 2000 that, "we are working towards a memorial. It is a very sensitive issue." In April 2007, the Council announced the launch of a public art design competition by the Omagh Memorial Working Group. The group's goal was to create a permanent memorial in time for the tenth anniversary of the bombing on 15 August 2008. It has a total budget of £240,000.
Since space for a monument on Market Street itself is limited, the final memorial was to be split between the actual bombing site and the temporary Memorial Garden about 300 metres away. Artist Sean Hillen and architect Desmond Fitzgerald won the contest with a design that, in the words of the Irish Times, "centres on that most primal yet mobile of elements: light." A heliostatic mirror was to be placed in the memorial park tracking the sun in order to project a constant beam of sunlight onto 31 small mirrors, each etched with the name of a victim. All the mirrors were then to bounce the light on to a heart-shaped crystal within an obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
pillar that stands at the bomb site.
In September 2007, the Omagh Council's proposed wording on a memorial plaque — "dissident republican car bomb" — brought it into conflict with several of the victims' families. Michael Gallagher has stated that "there can be no ambiguity over what happened on 15 August 1998, and no dancing around words can distract from the truth." The Council appointed an independent mediator in an attempt to reach an agreement with those families. Construction started on the memorial on 27 July 2008.
On 15 August 2008, a memorial service was held in Omagh. Senior government representatives from the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the Stormont Assembly were present, along with relatives of many of the victims. A number of bereaved families, however, boycotted the service and held their own service the following Sunday. They argued that the Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
-dominated Omagh council would not acknowledge that republicans
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
were responsible for the bombing.
See also
- Timeline of Real IRA actionsTimeline of Real IRA actionsThis is a timeline of activities by the Real Irish Republican Army , an Irish republican paramilitary group. The group was formed in late 1997 by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who disagreed with its ceasefire. Its actions have resulted in the deaths of 29 civilians and two...
- Timeline of the Northern Ireland Troubles
- The Troubles in OmaghThe Troubles in OmaghThe Troubles in Omagh recounts incidents during, and the effects of, The Troubles in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.Incidents in Omagh during the Troubles resulting in two or more fatalities:1973...