GOOD MAY FOLLOW OMAGH TV DRAMA
Good may follow Omagh TV drama
THE weekend RTE screening of a drama based on the 1998 Omagh atrocity has again focused wider attention on the way in which the relatives of victims of violence are treated.
While the production, which will also be broadcast by Channel Four later this week, inevitably only examined some aspects of a complex and distressing history, its central message was that the ordeal suffered by the Omagh families became even more appalling after they buried their dead.
The authorities, including governments and police forces on both sides of the border, promised that no stone would be left unturned in the search for the bombers, but shamefully failed to deliver results.
Other groups also let down the families, with Sinn Fein painted in a particularly poor light by the programme's script-writers.
However, the courage and determination of those who lost loved ones in the explosion shone through at all stages in a story which is still far from over.
Any analysis of the Omagh scandal must accept from the start that basic responsibility for the carnage lies squarely with the Real IRA, who used the techniques, equipment and the former personnel of the Provisional IRA in planting their device.
There are strong grounds for believing that the security forces could have done more to disrupt the advance planning of the attack, but the policing and political response in the months and years after the event could only be described as profoundly disturbing.
If the families had not been prepared to campaign so tirelessly for justice, all the indications are that the entire investigation would have been allowed to drift quietly towards an inconclusive outcome.
Many murders throughout the Troubles did result in a full series of convictions, but an alarmingly high percentage, involving victims from all sections of society, remain officially unsolved.
Discussions over some form of truth commission are still in their infancy, but such an initiative has the clear potential to provide grieving relatives with at least some of the answers they have so far been denied.
The dramatisation of the Omagh atrocity may well play a significant role in driving the debate forward.
THE weekend RTE screening of a drama based on the 1998 Omagh atrocity has again focused wider attention on the way in which the relatives of victims of violence are treated.
While the production, which will also be broadcast by Channel Four later this week, inevitably only examined some aspects of a complex and distressing history, its central message was that the ordeal suffered by the Omagh families became even more appalling after they buried their dead.
The authorities, including governments and police forces on both sides of the border, promised that no stone would be left unturned in the search for the bombers, but shamefully failed to deliver results.
Other groups also let down the families, with Sinn Fein painted in a particularly poor light by the programme's script-writers.
However, the courage and determination of those who lost loved ones in the explosion shone through at all stages in a story which is still far from over.
Any analysis of the Omagh scandal must accept from the start that basic responsibility for the carnage lies squarely with the Real IRA, who used the techniques, equipment and the former personnel of the Provisional IRA in planting their device.
There are strong grounds for believing that the security forces could have done more to disrupt the advance planning of the attack, but the policing and political response in the months and years after the event could only be described as profoundly disturbing.
If the families had not been prepared to campaign so tirelessly for justice, all the indications are that the entire investigation would have been allowed to drift quietly towards an inconclusive outcome.
Many murders throughout the Troubles did result in a full series of convictions, but an alarmingly high percentage, involving victims from all sections of society, remain officially unsolved.
Discussions over some form of truth commission are still in their infancy, but such an initiative has the clear potential to provide grieving relatives with at least some of the answers they have so far been denied.
The dramatisation of the Omagh atrocity may well play a significant role in driving the debate forward.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0694
Published Date: 24-May-04
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