COUNCIL CHAIRMAN REBUFFS NEWSPAPER ARTICLE'S CRITICISM OF MEMORIAL GARDEN
Council chairman rebuffs newspaper article's criticism of memorial garden
THE chairman of Omagh District Council has hit out at an article in a Dublin Sunday newspaper that slammed the state of Memorial Garden to the dead of the August 1998 bombing.
Under the headline 'Bare and desolate Omagh bomb memorial adds insult to injury', the article in the 'Sunday Tribune' lambasted the state of the Drumragh Avenue garden and accused the district council of going ahead with a community house project without the support of bomb relatives.
The newspaper also pictured Mr Michael Gallagher at the scene, and quoted him as saying the garden was "pathetic, too small and impossible to find".
However, in a statement this week, Mr Pat McDonnell said the article was "a great disappointment" and was spoiled with "poor research, dubious conclusions and a lack of balance."
"Omagh has seen enough tragedy without becoming the victim of any more tabloid journalism," said Mr McDonnell.
In his article the Sunday Tribune reporter said there was little eye-pleasing around the area in which the garden was located.
He said the first thing that struck him was how tiny the garden was. He described it as neat, but overwhelmingly unspectacular.
He said relatives were unhappy with the garden, and also the nearby community house.
He quoted Mr Gallagher as saying relatives initially supported the idea of "a spectacular building that would be worthy of Omagh"
The relatives, the report said, withdrew their support for the community house because it was being run by a limited company formed between the council and community groups.
Mr McDonnell, though, slammed the report.
"He [the reporter] conjures up some kind of stand off between the families of the victims and the council. That is not correct and would be shameful it were.
"I can state categorically that any approach to the council by any relative of the victims has always been taken very seriously and that will continue to be the situation.
"I have a very high regard for Mr Michael Gallagher and the group he represents. These totally innocent people have been forced to tread a very thorny path. What should have been a period of grieving and recovery has been marred by the nightmarish speculation surrounding the security aspects of the atrocity".
Mr McDonnell said the reporter was wrong in stating the Community House was being run by a limited company formed between the council and community groups.
"Omagh District Council has no representatives on the company who run that venture. He is also totally wrong when he asserts that 'the council...went ahead with the building" This was not a council project.
"A sense of journalistic balance would have stayed the reporter's hand until he had made contact with the council. However, no such contact was made.
"I accept without reservation the need for the erection of an appropriate memorial to the victims of the worst atrocity of the recent Troubles and I am willing to be involved in any attempt to resolve the present impasse.
"The present provision [the garden] is merely a stopgap arrangement sand should be viewed as such. In the meantime, it does provide a place for reflection and prayer for those who choose to call."
THE chairman of Omagh District Council has hit out at an article in a Dublin Sunday newspaper that slammed the state of Memorial Garden to the dead of the August 1998 bombing.
Under the headline 'Bare and desolate Omagh bomb memorial adds insult to injury', the article in the 'Sunday Tribune' lambasted the state of the Drumragh Avenue garden and accused the district council of going ahead with a community house project without the support of bomb relatives.
The newspaper also pictured Mr Michael Gallagher at the scene, and quoted him as saying the garden was "pathetic, too small and impossible to find".
However, in a statement this week, Mr Pat McDonnell said the article was "a great disappointment" and was spoiled with "poor research, dubious conclusions and a lack of balance."
"Omagh has seen enough tragedy without becoming the victim of any more tabloid journalism," said Mr McDonnell.
In his article the Sunday Tribune reporter said there was little eye-pleasing around the area in which the garden was located.
He said the first thing that struck him was how tiny the garden was. He described it as neat, but overwhelmingly unspectacular.
He said relatives were unhappy with the garden, and also the nearby community house.
He quoted Mr Gallagher as saying relatives initially supported the idea of "a spectacular building that would be worthy of Omagh"
The relatives, the report said, withdrew their support for the community house because it was being run by a limited company formed between the council and community groups.
Mr McDonnell, though, slammed the report.
"He [the reporter] conjures up some kind of stand off between the families of the victims and the council. That is not correct and would be shameful it were.
"I can state categorically that any approach to the council by any relative of the victims has always been taken very seriously and that will continue to be the situation.
"I have a very high regard for Mr Michael Gallagher and the group he represents. These totally innocent people have been forced to tread a very thorny path. What should have been a period of grieving and recovery has been marred by the nightmarish speculation surrounding the security aspects of the atrocity".
Mr McDonnell said the reporter was wrong in stating the Community House was being run by a limited company formed between the council and community groups.
"Omagh District Council has no representatives on the company who run that venture. He is also totally wrong when he asserts that 'the council...went ahead with the building" This was not a council project.
"A sense of journalistic balance would have stayed the reporter's hand until he had made contact with the council. However, no such contact was made.
"I accept without reservation the need for the erection of an appropriate memorial to the victims of the worst atrocity of the recent Troubles and I am willing to be involved in any attempt to resolve the present impasse.
"The present provision [the garden] is merely a stopgap arrangement sand should be viewed as such. In the meantime, it does provide a place for reflection and prayer for those who choose to call."
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1128
Published Date: 14-Nov-02
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