BOMB RELATIVES BACKING PEACE PROCESS
Bomb relatives backing peace process
RELATIVES of the Omagh bomb victims have urged politicians to stick with the fragile peace process.
As the British and Irish Governments both voiced their determination to crack down hard on the terrorists, families of those killed in Saturday's atrocity insisted it must not derail the peace agreement.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the blast, said: "The peace process is the only way forward."
Mr Gallagher was speaking last night on Omagh � The Thursday Night Live Special programme on ITV.
His daughter Sharon added: "It (the peace process) is all we have left. I don't want Aidan to have died for nothing.
"We have to go forward or there's nothing left."
Kevin Skelton, whose wife Philomena died in the blast, said of the bombers: "If they had gone through the pain I went through, if they had seen what I have seen, they would not have planted that bomb.
Their comments came after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced a series of "draconian" measures to crack down on the Real IRA.
Political Development Minister Paul Murphy said the British Government was considering new anti-terrorist measures of its own.
He said: "There are other measures we can take to toughen up the law with regard to evidence about the membership of proscribed organisations, such as the Real IRA, and we are looking very carefully at that at the moment, the legal implications, the way we can do it. the means by which that can be implemented through Parliament ."
RELATIVES of the Omagh bomb victims have urged politicians to stick with the fragile peace process.
As the British and Irish Governments both voiced their determination to crack down hard on the terrorists, families of those killed in Saturday's atrocity insisted it must not derail the peace agreement.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the blast, said: "The peace process is the only way forward."
Mr Gallagher was speaking last night on Omagh � The Thursday Night Live Special programme on ITV.
His daughter Sharon added: "It (the peace process) is all we have left. I don't want Aidan to have died for nothing.
"We have to go forward or there's nothing left."
Kevin Skelton, whose wife Philomena died in the blast, said of the bombers: "If they had gone through the pain I went through, if they had seen what I have seen, they would not have planted that bomb.
Their comments came after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced a series of "draconian" measures to crack down on the Real IRA.
Political Development Minister Paul Murphy said the British Government was considering new anti-terrorist measures of its own.
He said: "There are other measures we can take to toughen up the law with regard to evidence about the membership of proscribed organisations, such as the Real IRA, and we are looking very carefully at that at the moment, the legal implications, the way we can do it. the means by which that can be implemented through Parliament ."
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0159
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
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