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Put your money where your mouth is
Suzanne Breen

AFTER the Omagh bomb, many senior figures in the British Government spoke of their grief. With grave expressions and quivering lips, they offered their sincere sympathy to the injured and bereaved.
They fought back tears and pledged not only to track down the bombers but to do everything possible for the victims. Of course Tony Blair, our all-feeling, all-caring Prime Minister, led the mourning.
On such occasions he transforms himself from a mere politician into a statesman.
His statements take on a religious, spiritual tone.
He becomes the Voice of the Nation.
The injured and bereaved were spoken of in hallowed terms -people who showed immense courage in the face of unbelievable suffering.
The total lack of sincerity of these statements has been highlighted by the level of compensation some families are to receive.
They will get funeral costs and the standard bereavement grant of £7,500.
This is what our kind, compassionate government thinks a human life is worth - £7,500.
Tony Blair would probably spend that on a fortnight's holiday in Tuscany with his family.
There's probably a few pieces of furniture in Stormont Castle worth that amount.
Stanley McCombe, whose wife Ann was killed in the blast, has seen through the dulcet tones and sweet words of New Labour.
Stanley and the other families know that talk is cheap.
"Mo Mowlam can talk all she likes about sympathy but she has done nothing for me," he says.
Apart from the bereavement grant further compensation is available for "pecuniary loss".
This is assessed on the potential earnings of the person killed and is designed to compensate the next of kin for loss of earnings.
However, if the victim was too young to work or retired - as many of the Omagh dead were - their families are not eligible.
All they will receive is the £7,500.
How could Dennis Stanley of the Compensation Agency keep a straight face when he said:
"There is no attempt whatsoever to put any value on human life, human life is beyond monetary value."
The sad reality is that in the real world it isn't and the price the British Government puts on it is very low.
DUP Assembly member Oliver Gibson describes the level of compensation as "crass and heinous".
He is urging the Compensation Agency to set up an office in Omagh.
It's an absolute disgrace that there isn't one there already.
Twenty-nine people were killed and more than 300 injured.
So well over 1,000 people - the victims and their families - have been affected by the bomb.
Do they not merit an office?
If a similar tragedy had occurred in London, Manchester or Birmingham, would an office not have been set up in those towns?
Is this a case of people in Northern Ireland once again being treated like second-class citizens?
The Tories have been critical of the level of compensation and have spoken of the need to change the compensation system.
But they have the luxury of being in opposition. Does anybody seriously believe that the compensation would have been £1 higher had the Tories been in power?
Of course, it's horrible putting a monetary value on human life but their uniform bereavement grant should be at least 10 times higher than it is.
Hopefully, we will never have another Omagh but if we do we should treat British politicians' 'heartfelt sympathy' with the contempt it deserves and we should tell them to dry their crocodile tears.
Suzanne Breen is a journalist with the Irish Times