OMAGH MEMORIAL WORDING IS AGREED
Omagh memorial wording is agreed
BY DAVID YOUNG
A MEMORIAL to the Omagh bomb victims will incorporate a request from bereaved families and state that their loved ones were murdered in a dissident republican attack, it was agreed last night.
Relatives of some of the 31 people who died in the 1998 attack had voiced concerns that the inscription on a temporary memorial stone would be amended in a new remembrance garden, which is being built to mark the tenth anniversary of the atrocity.
But Omagh District Council unanimously agreed to accept the recommendations of an independent panel tasked to find an appropriate narrative for the tribute.
There will be three parts to the new memorial. And while less contentious language will be used to describe the bombing on an engraving at the site of the explosion and on a wall leading to the nearby garden of remembrance, the families' preferred wording will be on the garden's stone wall.
The sentence is: "To honour and remember 31 people murdered and hundreds injured from three nations by a dissident republican terrorist car bomb."
The name of the group which represents many of the families, the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, will be attributed to that particular portion of the inscription which will form part of a longer narrative that describes in detail the events of August 15, 1998, and names the victims.
Former Presbyterian Moderator the Rev John Dunlop, who headed up the facilitation panel, said the length of the text enabled them to take into account as many people's views as possible.
"This was a long narrative so we weren't just faced with choosing between 20 or 25 different words.
"So we decided we were going to put a long story about what happened in the context of the day, and in the context of the politics, and in the context of what happened afterwards," he said.
"The Omagh Support and Self Help Group represent some families but not all. The group have a particular form of words and we were faced with the decision on whether we were going to incorporate that into the narrative and we took the decision that that was something that we ought to do."
Mr Dunlop, who held 80 meetings with interested parties before finalising the report, said he hoped the narrative would be accepted by all the people of Omagh as a fair compromise.
"For Omagh to be divided on the tenth anniversary of the bomb would be a victory for those who planted the bomb," he said.
The tribute stone which bore the original inscription was removed from the temporary remembrance garden last year to allow work to begin on a permanent memorial.
Mr Dunlop's team recommended that the stone should not be returned to the garden as it did not fit with the redesign. However he stressed that the inscription was being incorporated.
A copy of the panel's recommendations was couriered to all the victims' families ahead of last night's council meeting.
Omagh council chair Bert Wilson described the recommended text as a "sensitive, balanced and factual, yet inspirational, narrative".
He rejected claims from some family members that the council had set out with the intention of altering the original inscription.
"Omagh District Council has never previously accepted or rejected any form of words for the memorial and its objective has always been to ensure that all those affected by that terrible atrocity have an opportunity to have their views heard and considered," he said.
The other two members of the independent facilitation team were Roman Catholic priest Father Brian Lennon and Olive Hobson, a peace-builder from Quaker House in Belfast.
BY DAVID YOUNG
A MEMORIAL to the Omagh bomb victims will incorporate a request from bereaved families and state that their loved ones were murdered in a dissident republican attack, it was agreed last night.
Relatives of some of the 31 people who died in the 1998 attack had voiced concerns that the inscription on a temporary memorial stone would be amended in a new remembrance garden, which is being built to mark the tenth anniversary of the atrocity.
But Omagh District Council unanimously agreed to accept the recommendations of an independent panel tasked to find an appropriate narrative for the tribute.
There will be three parts to the new memorial. And while less contentious language will be used to describe the bombing on an engraving at the site of the explosion and on a wall leading to the nearby garden of remembrance, the families' preferred wording will be on the garden's stone wall.
The sentence is: "To honour and remember 31 people murdered and hundreds injured from three nations by a dissident republican terrorist car bomb."
The name of the group which represents many of the families, the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, will be attributed to that particular portion of the inscription which will form part of a longer narrative that describes in detail the events of August 15, 1998, and names the victims.
Former Presbyterian Moderator the Rev John Dunlop, who headed up the facilitation panel, said the length of the text enabled them to take into account as many people's views as possible.
"This was a long narrative so we weren't just faced with choosing between 20 or 25 different words.
"So we decided we were going to put a long story about what happened in the context of the day, and in the context of the politics, and in the context of what happened afterwards," he said.
"The Omagh Support and Self Help Group represent some families but not all. The group have a particular form of words and we were faced with the decision on whether we were going to incorporate that into the narrative and we took the decision that that was something that we ought to do."
Mr Dunlop, who held 80 meetings with interested parties before finalising the report, said he hoped the narrative would be accepted by all the people of Omagh as a fair compromise.
"For Omagh to be divided on the tenth anniversary of the bomb would be a victory for those who planted the bomb," he said.
The tribute stone which bore the original inscription was removed from the temporary remembrance garden last year to allow work to begin on a permanent memorial.
Mr Dunlop's team recommended that the stone should not be returned to the garden as it did not fit with the redesign. However he stressed that the inscription was being incorporated.
A copy of the panel's recommendations was couriered to all the victims' families ahead of last night's council meeting.
Omagh council chair Bert Wilson described the recommended text as a "sensitive, balanced and factual, yet inspirational, narrative".
He rejected claims from some family members that the council had set out with the intention of altering the original inscription.
"Omagh District Council has never previously accepted or rejected any form of words for the memorial and its objective has always been to ensure that all those affected by that terrible atrocity have an opportunity to have their views heard and considered," he said.
The other two members of the independent facilitation team were Roman Catholic priest Father Brian Lennon and Olive Hobson, a peace-builder from Quaker House in Belfast.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/733
Published Date: 07-Mar-08
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