OMAGH: THE PAIN LIVES ON
Omagh: the pain lives on
BY GEMMA MURRAY
Security Correspondent
g.murray@newsletter.co.uk
SURVIVORS and relatives of the Omagh bomb victims gathered yesterday to remember the dead at a special service in the Co Tyrone market town.
And while it was an occasion for sadness and reflection, there was anger too that seven years after the atrocity, no-one has yet been held to account.
But also on display was a determination to catch the perpetrators behind the single worst atrocity in 30 years of bloodshed in Northern Ireland.
Grieving families and many of the hundreds injured in the blast joined NIO Minister Lord Rooker and Irish Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday in the Omagh Remembrance Garden.
Local churchmen conducted an interdenominational service - which included an Irish, English and Spanish dimension -during which flowers were laid at the memorial to the dead.
Speaking after the service, Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden died in the blast, said bereaved families an bomb victims were more determined that ever to catch the bombers.
"We are here on the seventh anniversary and no-one has been held to account for what happened," he said. "There was more sadness than anger that no-one has been caught.
"But an important message has been sent out from Omagh to those people who delivered that car bomb - we will not forget what happened and we will not allow you to forget." Mr Gallagher described the seventh anniversary service as "comforting".
He said: "The ministers who attended were vigorously questioned on how they could do more.
"The people who were there got something from the service, but there will be no letting up - it's very much a case of let's keep going."
Mr Gallagher said the victims of other acts of terrorism were also remembered.
"We prayed for all of the people who have suffered as a result of terrorism, particularly those who lost their lives in the July 7 bombings in London," he said.
Twenty-nine men, women and children plus unborn twins died and hundreds were injured in the car bomb attack in Omagh on Saturday, August 15,1998.
Michael McKevitt, 54, from Blackrock, Co Louth, is serving a 20-year sentence in Portlaoise Prison for running the Real IRA, the organisation which carried out the 1998 Omagh bombing.
He and four other people in the Republic - Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy - are being sued by some of the Omagh relatives.
BY GEMMA MURRAY
Security Correspondent
g.murray@newsletter.co.uk
SURVIVORS and relatives of the Omagh bomb victims gathered yesterday to remember the dead at a special service in the Co Tyrone market town.
And while it was an occasion for sadness and reflection, there was anger too that seven years after the atrocity, no-one has yet been held to account.
But also on display was a determination to catch the perpetrators behind the single worst atrocity in 30 years of bloodshed in Northern Ireland.
Grieving families and many of the hundreds injured in the blast joined NIO Minister Lord Rooker and Irish Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday in the Omagh Remembrance Garden.
Local churchmen conducted an interdenominational service - which included an Irish, English and Spanish dimension -during which flowers were laid at the memorial to the dead.
Speaking after the service, Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden died in the blast, said bereaved families an bomb victims were more determined that ever to catch the bombers.
"We are here on the seventh anniversary and no-one has been held to account for what happened," he said. "There was more sadness than anger that no-one has been caught.
"But an important message has been sent out from Omagh to those people who delivered that car bomb - we will not forget what happened and we will not allow you to forget." Mr Gallagher described the seventh anniversary service as "comforting".
He said: "The ministers who attended were vigorously questioned on how they could do more.
"The people who were there got something from the service, but there will be no letting up - it's very much a case of let's keep going."
Mr Gallagher said the victims of other acts of terrorism were also remembered.
"We prayed for all of the people who have suffered as a result of terrorism, particularly those who lost their lives in the July 7 bombings in London," he said.
Twenty-nine men, women and children plus unborn twins died and hundreds were injured in the car bomb attack in Omagh on Saturday, August 15,1998.
Michael McKevitt, 54, from Blackrock, Co Louth, is serving a 20-year sentence in Portlaoise Prison for running the Real IRA, the organisation which carried out the 1998 Omagh bombing.
He and four other people in the Republic - Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy - are being sued by some of the Omagh relatives.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/623
Published Date: 15-Aug-05
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