TOWN WHERE IT'S ALL BEEN SAID BEFORE
Town where it's all been said before
By JACKIE McKEOWN
IN DUNDALK, it was a case of what could the BBC 'Panorama' documentary broadcast that the dogs in the street do not know or have not heard. The supporters of the Real IRA were known before the Omagh bomb was ever suggested and the same names trip off the tongues of local people over two years later.
The only real surprise was that the programme, which, was watched in pubs and homes throughout the Co Louth town, did not feature the leader of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, Mickey McKevitt and his wife Geraldine.
The disgust at the possible involvement of any resident of the border town in such an atrocity was clearly shown to the world at large, when 12,000 people marched through Dundalk in support of the people of Omagh exactly one week after the car bomb wiped out 29 lives and unborn twin babies. You cannot pick your neighbours, and when you live in a small town, even if its economy and population is booming, it is very hard to take a public stand, especially when the culprits are alleged mass murderers.
Yet the people of Dundalk, just like the people of Omagh and every other town, across the globe, want justice exercised and those who planned, constructed, planted, detonated and even heard a whisper about the bomb, to be convicted and punished.
"On the Saturday after the bomb the Dundalk people laid down a marker on how they felt when they marched, "said former mayor Seamus
Byrne.
"There was a crowd of approximately 12-13,000 people, who marched both in support of the victims of Omagh and in defence of our town because we got a terrible press that week."
But the possibility that the 'naming' and shaming' of those quizzed by Police could result in any of the culprits escaping a trial because of the programme, led to criticism of the BBC.
Gerry Murphy, President of the annual Dundalk Maytime Festival, said: "I think it is incredibly stupid to name those people.
"We have to maintain some semblance of law and order and cannot have trial by media."
By JACKIE McKEOWN
IN DUNDALK, it was a case of what could the BBC 'Panorama' documentary broadcast that the dogs in the street do not know or have not heard. The supporters of the Real IRA were known before the Omagh bomb was ever suggested and the same names trip off the tongues of local people over two years later.
The only real surprise was that the programme, which, was watched in pubs and homes throughout the Co Louth town, did not feature the leader of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, Mickey McKevitt and his wife Geraldine.
The disgust at the possible involvement of any resident of the border town in such an atrocity was clearly shown to the world at large, when 12,000 people marched through Dundalk in support of the people of Omagh exactly one week after the car bomb wiped out 29 lives and unborn twin babies. You cannot pick your neighbours, and when you live in a small town, even if its economy and population is booming, it is very hard to take a public stand, especially when the culprits are alleged mass murderers.
Yet the people of Dundalk, just like the people of Omagh and every other town, across the globe, want justice exercised and those who planned, constructed, planted, detonated and even heard a whisper about the bomb, to be convicted and punished.
"On the Saturday after the bomb the Dundalk people laid down a marker on how they felt when they marched, "said former mayor Seamus
Byrne.
"There was a crowd of approximately 12-13,000 people, who marched both in support of the victims of Omagh and in defence of our town because we got a terrible press that week."
But the possibility that the 'naming' and shaming' of those quizzed by Police could result in any of the culprits escaping a trial because of the programme, led to criticism of the BBC.
Gerry Murphy, President of the annual Dundalk Maytime Festival, said: "I think it is incredibly stupid to name those people.
"We have to maintain some semblance of law and order and cannot have trial by media."
Further Information
Publisher: SUNDAY LIFE
Ref: SL/109
Published Date: 15-Aug-00
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