NL/827

PATERSON SHOULD GIVE OMAGH DECISION

Paterson should give Omagh decision

OVER the last few weeks, the number of promptly instituted inquiries, including public and judicial, into the hullabaloo over the telephone hacking has multiplied into double figures.
Complaints arose from the invasion of people's privacy and gave rise to dented egos, dismay and distress. This righteous indignation resulted from reactions to the illegal activity of a small number of media writers and researchers who illegally hacked, or paid other to exercise such dubious skill, into people's phones. At the same time, payments to police officers for information are also being highlighted.
No one was killed or physically injured by such wrong-doing. However, in the Omagh bomb atrocity, the 13th anniversary of which is on August 15. 31 people were killed, including unborn twins, and more than 250 people were injured, many of them seriously.
Broken fragments and body parts are still kept in cold storage, as evidence, to this day. There has yet to be a public inquiry into the Omagh bomb massacre. The secretary of state for Northern Ireland. Owen Paterson, MP, met with family members of the victims from the Omagh Support and Self-Help Group at Stormont on September 22 last year. He promised that early this year he would give a decision as to whether he would exercise his powers made under the Inquiries Act 2005 to order a public inquiry. Mr Paterson has to date, remained silent on this issue.
The victims' relatives deserve better than to be treated in this manner on such an important matter.
Neil C Oliver. LL B
Newtownards

Further Information

Publisher: NEWS LETTER

Ref: NL/827

Published Date: 03-Aug-11

Related Images

There have been no images archived for this article.