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Bomb civil court action fundraising gets 'significant' boost after big names weigh in behind campaign
by David Killen

JAMES NESBITT, the 'Cold Feet' and 'Bloody Sunday' actor, is the latest high profile figure to join the campaign to raise funds for a civil legal action against those suspected of planning and carrying out the Omagh bombing.
And since Bob Geldof announced his support on Wednesday of last week, there has been a significant boost for the fund.
Some of the Omagh families are trying to raise £2 million to launch a civil court action against those they believe planned and carried out the atrocity.
The fundraising seemed to have stalled, and with time running out, the families sought and got the support of Bob Geldof, Barry McGuigan and other celebrities and politicians.
Since last Wednesday the response had been significant, Mr. Michael Gallagher said yesterday. He added: "We are absolutely delighted with the response we have received from the public."
Letters and cheques have been flooding in to the appeal addresses in London and at the Bank of Ireland in Omagh.
Mr. Conor McMahon, manager of the Bank of Ireland at Campsie, said there had been hundreds of letters since last week. As well as donations, letters contained poems of support, and even one book of poetry with a poem dedicated to the Omagh blast.
The bank is providing a free service to the Omagh families, and Mr. McMahon added: "We are delighted to be doing this for them."
Meanwhile, in London there were 1,200 letters in one day since last Wednesday, Mr. Gallagher said.
When Bob Geldof announced his support in London, he was joined at a Press conference by Barry McGuigan, the boxer.
Others there in support included former NI Secretary of State Peter Mandelson and First Minister David Trimble, who also brought a letter of support from Mark Durkan.
Specially delighted
Mr. Gallagher said he had been specially delighted to receive a letter of support from the 'Cold Feet' and 'Bloody Sunday' actor James Nesbitt. Many MPs had also given their support.
"People from a cross-section in the political world and entertainment in Britain and Ireland are supporting and giving money, ad that is very encouraging," he added.
While the families are pleased that their campaign has been given a boost over the past week, Mr. Gallagher said it was important now to maintain that.
He said events were being planned to raise money, and it was possible a concert might be among them.
Geldof has described the August 1998 atrocity in Omagh as Britain and Ireland's equivalent of the September 11 attacks in the USA.
He told the Sunday Times: "I remember what happened in Omagh with sickening revulsion. On a Saturday afternoon, just before the children went back to school, deluded wretches loaded their car with a 5001b bomb and drove it to a school uniform shop right on Omagh's main street.
"In the baleful history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, this was the atrocity which seemed beyond monstrous; it was an evil which beggars comprehension."
He said the issue was of importance to him. "We are going to come and get those killers and make them face the families of their victims. Then they must be punished and made to atone for their horrible actions."
The police would continue their criminal investigation, Geldof said, and the civil action did not obviate the criminal action.
"In fact, exposing the bombers to this glare of publicity should help bring them to justice," he said.
Cold sobriety
And he added: "Taking civil action in an object lesson in cold sobriety, This is the way that a civil society fights for its own sanity. We believe the innocent will not be out away until proven guilty, but nor can these people win. The just law allows us in beyond criminal proceedings."
He has compared his new campaign with that he helped lead for Live Aid.
"There's an intellectual absurdity at the heart of both. For Live Aid there was the absurdity that people could die of want in a world of surplus. Morally that's a disgrace.
"The intellectual absurdity at the heart of Omagh is that we know those who committed the single most grotesque act of butchery in the history of the Troubles are allowed to walk around. It's absurd."
Some of those who lost loved one in the bombing were present at the Press conference at which Geldof announced his support. He had met some of them before, and commented "It's humbling to hear what these people have had to endure."
o Donations can be made to the Omagh Victims' Legal Fund at the Bank of Ireland, sort code 905002, account number 30790971.