TC/1787

McKevitt to challenge government decision on funding for bomb bereaved

REAL IRA leader, Michael McKevitt, is to challenge a government decision to give relatives of those killed in the 1998 Omagh bomb almost £750,000 towards their landmark civil court action against five men they accuse of carrying out the atrocity.
McKevitt, who is serving 20 years in Portlaoise Prison for directing terrorism and membership of an illegal organisation, is being sued along with four other men in a £14 million civil case by the Omagh Victims' Civil Action Group.
The 54-year-old Blackrock man is seeking a judicial review of the decision to award the money, claiming that legislation allowing the payment was created for an improper purpose and was therefore void.
The payment was authorised by the Lord Chancellor last year when he ordered the newly-formed NI Legal Services Commission to assist the Omagh claimants with £742,702.
The five men who stand accused by the Omagh families, including McKevitt, Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy, have been refused legal aid to defend the case, which led to their lawyers deciding to pull out.
The papers lodged in the High Court state: "It is submitted that the proceedings, far from being compensatory, are intended to be accusatory.
"Though civil in character, the essence is an attempt to establish liability before a court of law for the most serious criminal offences.
The proceedings are, effectively, a prosecution of the defendants using a civil standard of proof. As a consequence of not having legal aid, the applicant (McKevitt) now has no legal representation and cannot attend the hearing to defend himself.
"The proceedings will proceed without any input from him in circumstances where it is clearly the intention of the plaintiffs to hold the applicant criminally liable in the eyes of the public for the Omagh bombing."
Before a judicial review can be held, a judge has to grant leave and the preliminary hearing is expected to take place shortly.