YEAR IN REVIEW 2000 AUGUST
August
Detectives from Belfast and Dublin met in Omagh in the second week of August for crucial talks on the progress of the investigation into the Market Street bombing.
With the first anniversary looming it had been claimed that up to 60 people were directly involved in the atrocity, or had advance knowledge that the bomb attack was being planned.
The majority of them had been questioned at some stage, and while detectives had more or less established where and who assembled the 350Ib bomb, and how it was transported to Omagh, the Real IRA terrorists involved are still free.
The people of Omagh were preparing for a weekend of remembrance as council workmen prepared a Garden of Remembrance at the bottom of Market Street.
The Prime Minster, in a letter to Mr John McKinney, paid tribute to the strength, courage and dignity shown by the bereaved and injured in facing the future, and assured the people of Omagh that they would not be forgotten. Thousands crowded into Market Street on Sunday, August 15, to remember the 29 people and unborn twins killed the previous year.
"It was to be a day that people I had both dreaded and welcomed, a watershed for the grief and suffering experienced over the last 12 months, and the rebuilding that must follow.
A number of dignitaries attended the ceremony including the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn, Dr Mo Mowlam and Sir Patrick Mayhew.
Their arrival though was a quiet affair and the event was an opportunity for the ordinary members of the community to remember their dead.
At 3.10pm, the time the bomb had exploded, the service stopped and those in attendance had a minutes silence.
Claire Gallagher, the teenager who lost her sight in the blast, had some good news the following week as the dreaded GCSE results arrived.
Although she had to drop two of the subject she had been studying, Claire achieved an A*, A and four B grades. Determination and hard work over the year had paid of and Claire, and her school principal Mr Colm O'Neill, were delighted with her results.
Towards the end of the month it was announced that top Irish band The Corrs would take to the stage in Omagh in what was billed as the biggest outdoor music event Northern Ireland had seen since U2 played Botanic Gardens, Belfast.
In all 30,000 people were expected to crowd into the town to mark the launch of the United Kingdom's Millennium Festival.
Mr David Trimble said Omagh had shown itself to a model of reconciliation and renewal throughout the world at the inaugural Omagh International Summer School.
The summer school was a response to the Omagh bomb and provided an opportunity to both contribute to and learn from the regeneration of communities within Omagh and further afield.
Detectives from Belfast and Dublin met in Omagh in the second week of August for crucial talks on the progress of the investigation into the Market Street bombing.
With the first anniversary looming it had been claimed that up to 60 people were directly involved in the atrocity, or had advance knowledge that the bomb attack was being planned.
The majority of them had been questioned at some stage, and while detectives had more or less established where and who assembled the 350Ib bomb, and how it was transported to Omagh, the Real IRA terrorists involved are still free.
The people of Omagh were preparing for a weekend of remembrance as council workmen prepared a Garden of Remembrance at the bottom of Market Street.
The Prime Minster, in a letter to Mr John McKinney, paid tribute to the strength, courage and dignity shown by the bereaved and injured in facing the future, and assured the people of Omagh that they would not be forgotten. Thousands crowded into Market Street on Sunday, August 15, to remember the 29 people and unborn twins killed the previous year.
"It was to be a day that people I had both dreaded and welcomed, a watershed for the grief and suffering experienced over the last 12 months, and the rebuilding that must follow.
A number of dignitaries attended the ceremony including the Duke and Duchess of Abercorn, Dr Mo Mowlam and Sir Patrick Mayhew.
Their arrival though was a quiet affair and the event was an opportunity for the ordinary members of the community to remember their dead.
At 3.10pm, the time the bomb had exploded, the service stopped and those in attendance had a minutes silence.
Claire Gallagher, the teenager who lost her sight in the blast, had some good news the following week as the dreaded GCSE results arrived.
Although she had to drop two of the subject she had been studying, Claire achieved an A*, A and four B grades. Determination and hard work over the year had paid of and Claire, and her school principal Mr Colm O'Neill, were delighted with her results.
Towards the end of the month it was announced that top Irish band The Corrs would take to the stage in Omagh in what was billed as the biggest outdoor music event Northern Ireland had seen since U2 played Botanic Gardens, Belfast.
In all 30,000 people were expected to crowd into the town to mark the launch of the United Kingdom's Millennium Festival.
Mr David Trimble said Omagh had shown itself to a model of reconciliation and renewal throughout the world at the inaugural Omagh International Summer School.
The summer school was a response to the Omagh bomb and provided an opportunity to both contribute to and learn from the regeneration of communities within Omagh and further afield.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1427
Published Date: 06-Jan-00
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