COUNCIL AND VICTIMS IN BITTER ROW OVER BLAST MEMORIAL
Council and victims in bitter row over blast memorial
Shane Phelan and David Young
A ROW over the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Omagh bombing took a bizarre twist last night when a victim's sister was reported to authorities for allegedly trespassing in a controversial new memorial garden.
Omagh District Council reported Carol Radford, whose 16-year-old brother Alan died in the Real IRA atrocity, to the North's Health & Safety Executive after she visited the memorial garden yesterday.
Ms Radford (37) said she was "horrified" and "stunned" by the move and claimed she had been intimidated by construction workers at the site.
She told the Irish Independent that she was surrounded by up to five men when she went to have her picture taken at the memorial, and refused to leave.
She was "at a loss" to understand the council's attitude when she had already visited the site on Thursday with sculptor Sean Hillen and had not been asked to leave then.
Boycott
Her family is one of about a dozen victim's families who have said they will boycott a commemoration ceremony organised by the district council for the 29 people and two unborn babies who died in the 1998 bombing, and hold their own ceremony two days later.
In another extraordinary twist, Omagh Victims Support Group chairman Michael Gallagher - who lost his son Aidan in the bomb - accused the churches of abandoning them in their hour of need after it emerged that none of the four main churches in Northern Ireland will attend their service.
The Omagh Church Forum said it felt it was "more appropriate" to attend the council event on Friday, the actual 10th anniversary of the tragedy.
"It would have been a more Christian attitude to stand with the victims for an hour rather than simply abandoning them to go to the bigger and more political event instead," said Mr Gallagher.
In a statement, council said construction work on the garden was ongoing and the site was not open to the public. The council said Ms Radford's entry to the site was "unauthorised" and "a breach of site security".
Following the incident, Mr Gallagher called for the council's chief executive Danny McSorley to resign.
Mr McSorley was unavailable for comment last night.
Yesterday's event has sent tensions between the families and council to boiling point after months of disagreement over the memorial park and the guest list for next Friday's memorial service.
Many of the families are unhappy at how the council handled the wording for the new memorials, including a glass obelisk erected at the bomb site on the town's Market Street. Relatives claim they should have had more of a say in the planning of the memorial garden, which consists of 31 poles set beside a pond.
Kevin Skelton, who lost his wife Philomena in the bombing, said he would have no part of the council event, claiming he and other victims had been "treated like garbage for the past 10 years".
Sinn Fein councillor and chairperson of Omagh council Martin McLoughlin said it was a pity some families had decided not to attend.
"I'd love to see everyone there on Friday," he said. "As a council, we have tried to do our best to mark the anniversary."
Shane Phelan and David Young
A ROW over the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Omagh bombing took a bizarre twist last night when a victim's sister was reported to authorities for allegedly trespassing in a controversial new memorial garden.
Omagh District Council reported Carol Radford, whose 16-year-old brother Alan died in the Real IRA atrocity, to the North's Health & Safety Executive after she visited the memorial garden yesterday.
Ms Radford (37) said she was "horrified" and "stunned" by the move and claimed she had been intimidated by construction workers at the site.
She told the Irish Independent that she was surrounded by up to five men when she went to have her picture taken at the memorial, and refused to leave.
She was "at a loss" to understand the council's attitude when she had already visited the site on Thursday with sculptor Sean Hillen and had not been asked to leave then.
Boycott
Her family is one of about a dozen victim's families who have said they will boycott a commemoration ceremony organised by the district council for the 29 people and two unborn babies who died in the 1998 bombing, and hold their own ceremony two days later.
In another extraordinary twist, Omagh Victims Support Group chairman Michael Gallagher - who lost his son Aidan in the bomb - accused the churches of abandoning them in their hour of need after it emerged that none of the four main churches in Northern Ireland will attend their service.
The Omagh Church Forum said it felt it was "more appropriate" to attend the council event on Friday, the actual 10th anniversary of the tragedy.
"It would have been a more Christian attitude to stand with the victims for an hour rather than simply abandoning them to go to the bigger and more political event instead," said Mr Gallagher.
In a statement, council said construction work on the garden was ongoing and the site was not open to the public. The council said Ms Radford's entry to the site was "unauthorised" and "a breach of site security".
Following the incident, Mr Gallagher called for the council's chief executive Danny McSorley to resign.
Mr McSorley was unavailable for comment last night.
Yesterday's event has sent tensions between the families and council to boiling point after months of disagreement over the memorial park and the guest list for next Friday's memorial service.
Many of the families are unhappy at how the council handled the wording for the new memorials, including a glass obelisk erected at the bomb site on the town's Market Street. Relatives claim they should have had more of a say in the planning of the memorial garden, which consists of 31 poles set beside a pond.
Kevin Skelton, who lost his wife Philomena in the bombing, said he would have no part of the council event, claiming he and other victims had been "treated like garbage for the past 10 years".
Sinn Fein councillor and chairperson of Omagh council Martin McLoughlin said it was a pity some families had decided not to attend.
"I'd love to see everyone there on Friday," he said. "As a council, we have tried to do our best to mark the anniversary."
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II10An/02
Published Date: 09-Aug-08
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