TWO SATURDAYS 13 YEARS APART FOREVER LINKED
Two Saturdays 13 years apart forever linked
By Seamus McKinney
TWO Saturdays. 13 years apart, are now linked forever by a common tragic thread.
In 1998 we were told there could never be another Omagh - the town's name synonymous with suffering.
Away from these shores, people's only knowledge of Omagh is from the headlines that flashed around the globe on two Saturdays - one in 1998 and the other last Saturday.
The similarities are shocking, only the victim numbers differing.
On August 15 1998. a dissident republican group planted a bomb.
In the hour before 4pm it exploded, killing 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins.
On Saturday, in the hour before 4pm. a bomb planted by a dissident republican group once again ripped through the town, killing Ronan Kerr.
As a journalist, I recall hearing the tail end of a news story about a bomb killing people on August 15 1998.
I thought it was another attack on a US embassy following three bombings the previous week.
Then the phone started ringing and within the hour I was on my way to Omagh to cover the biggest atrocity of the Troubles.
The over-riding atmosphere in Omagh that night was a town that had been bluntly and brutally traumatised.
Shock does not give meaning to what Omagh felt like that night.
Last Saturday was almost a repetition of 1998. Omagh was going about its business when normal life exploded and one of its sons was killed really just as he started out in life.
In 1998 Omagh native Fr Kevin Mullan spent the day comforting relatives and trying to understand how anyone could do what the bombers had done.
On Saturday, now based in nearby Drumquin, he had just completed a baptism and was going into the post-christening meal when word started to filter through.
"Someone got a text to say there was a bomb and there were rumours that someone was dead," he told me.
"Then we heard it was a policeman."
What should have been a celebration of a new future became a flashback to our tragic history.
"It took over everything at the meal." Fr Mullan said.
"Everyone was talking about it and about before.
"It was Omagh and it was a Saturday.
"There'd been a fun run on Saturday and In 1998 there'd been a carnival.
"It was just impossible to believe.
"I'm outside the town now but talking to people since Saturday, it's clear there's a lot of anger.
"It's sort of peace promised and promises broken again.
"We were told there'd never be another Omagh but for this family there is."
The Omagh bombing victims' families will never get over August 1998.
However, for those who were not directly affected by that bombing, life was moving on, until Saturday.
On the night of Saturday August 15 1998. I interviewed the late Willie Thompson, then Ulster Unionist MP for West Tyrone.
Midway through the interview, he lost all control and started sobbing and weeping.
All he could say was: "This is my town. This is my town."
Ronan Kerr's town was told by the bombers on Saturday: 'Don't think you're going anywhere - we won't let you'.
By Seamus McKinney
TWO Saturdays. 13 years apart, are now linked forever by a common tragic thread.
In 1998 we were told there could never be another Omagh - the town's name synonymous with suffering.
Away from these shores, people's only knowledge of Omagh is from the headlines that flashed around the globe on two Saturdays - one in 1998 and the other last Saturday.
The similarities are shocking, only the victim numbers differing.
On August 15 1998. a dissident republican group planted a bomb.
In the hour before 4pm it exploded, killing 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins.
On Saturday, in the hour before 4pm. a bomb planted by a dissident republican group once again ripped through the town, killing Ronan Kerr.
As a journalist, I recall hearing the tail end of a news story about a bomb killing people on August 15 1998.
I thought it was another attack on a US embassy following three bombings the previous week.
Then the phone started ringing and within the hour I was on my way to Omagh to cover the biggest atrocity of the Troubles.
The over-riding atmosphere in Omagh that night was a town that had been bluntly and brutally traumatised.
Shock does not give meaning to what Omagh felt like that night.
Last Saturday was almost a repetition of 1998. Omagh was going about its business when normal life exploded and one of its sons was killed really just as he started out in life.
In 1998 Omagh native Fr Kevin Mullan spent the day comforting relatives and trying to understand how anyone could do what the bombers had done.
On Saturday, now based in nearby Drumquin, he had just completed a baptism and was going into the post-christening meal when word started to filter through.
"Someone got a text to say there was a bomb and there were rumours that someone was dead," he told me.
"Then we heard it was a policeman."
What should have been a celebration of a new future became a flashback to our tragic history.
"It took over everything at the meal." Fr Mullan said.
"Everyone was talking about it and about before.
"It was Omagh and it was a Saturday.
"There'd been a fun run on Saturday and In 1998 there'd been a carnival.
"It was just impossible to believe.
"I'm outside the town now but talking to people since Saturday, it's clear there's a lot of anger.
"It's sort of peace promised and promises broken again.
"We were told there'd never be another Omagh but for this family there is."
The Omagh bombing victims' families will never get over August 1998.
However, for those who were not directly affected by that bombing, life was moving on, until Saturday.
On the night of Saturday August 15 1998. I interviewed the late Willie Thompson, then Ulster Unionist MP for West Tyrone.
Midway through the interview, he lost all control and started sobbing and weeping.
All he could say was: "This is my town. This is my town."
Ronan Kerr's town was told by the bombers on Saturday: 'Don't think you're going anywhere - we won't let you'.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/1049
Published Date: 04-Apr-11
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