DUNLOP BIDS TO SOLVE OMAGH ROW
Dunlop bids to solve Omagh row
BY MICHAEL McHUGH
A LEADING clergyman has been called in to settle a row over the inscription for the new �250,000 Omagh bomb memorial.
Former Presbyterian Moderator John Dunlop is part of an independent panel that has been asked to come up with wording that will be endorsed by relatives of people murdered and injured in the August 1998 outrage.
Some claim the Sinn Fein-controlled Omagh Council is resisting demands to refer to dissident republicans on the memorial, which is to be built near the spot where 29 people were blown up.
Mr Dunlop said: "We can only do what we have been asked to do with help from the bereaved or the injured and the people who were affected."
Also present at the launch of the panel was Lawrence Rush, whose wife Libby was killed in the atrocity.
He said he didn't agree with the decision to build a monument and questioned the �250,000 expense involved.
"I have my memorial, my memorial is my children.
" I don't need a memorial in the centre of Omagh, opposite my wife's shop.
"A more fitting memorial to the young people would be a bursary or scholarship," Mr Rush said.
Mr Dunlop's team will hold meetings with the bereaved and survivors.
They will report by the end of February.
BY MICHAEL McHUGH
A LEADING clergyman has been called in to settle a row over the inscription for the new �250,000 Omagh bomb memorial.
Former Presbyterian Moderator John Dunlop is part of an independent panel that has been asked to come up with wording that will be endorsed by relatives of people murdered and injured in the August 1998 outrage.
Some claim the Sinn Fein-controlled Omagh Council is resisting demands to refer to dissident republicans on the memorial, which is to be built near the spot where 29 people were blown up.
Mr Dunlop said: "We can only do what we have been asked to do with help from the bereaved or the injured and the people who were affected."
Also present at the launch of the panel was Lawrence Rush, whose wife Libby was killed in the atrocity.
He said he didn't agree with the decision to build a monument and questioned the �250,000 expense involved.
"I have my memorial, my memorial is my children.
" I don't need a memorial in the centre of Omagh, opposite my wife's shop.
"A more fitting memorial to the young people would be a bursary or scholarship," Mr Rush said.
Mr Dunlop's team will hold meetings with the bereaved and survivors.
They will report by the end of February.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1041
Published Date: 31-Oct-07
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