CROWDS SIGN CONDOLENCES AS MANSION HOUSE FEELS THE FUTILITY
Crowds sign condolences as Mansion House feels the futility
by Jim Morahan
YOUNG and old - singly, in groups and in families - came to offer their sympathy in Dublin's Mansion House yesterday.
They walked up the eight steps, heavy-footed with grief, to sign the book of condolence opened at noon by Lord Mayor Joe Doyle.
Two young girls carried a bouquet of flowers. The message read: "In loving memory of the victims of the Omagh bombing from the children of Dublin."
Among the first to sign was Mrs Susan McHugh, a Clontarf mother of two children and member of Peace 93 group in Dublin, set up after the Warrington bombing.
"It's just so senseless," said Mrs McHugh, struggling with tears in her voice.
As the fiends were exploding the Omagh bomb last Saturday, she stood with Co Antrim mother Mrs Chrissie Quinn by the grave of her three young sons, victims of a recent atrocity. The Quinn brothers died when fire-bombers attacked their Ballymoney home. At the fateful moment, the two mothers were at the graveside of the little boys.
Struggling to find words to describe the Omagh outrage, Mrs McHugh said: "You wished to God the people who did it could see the grief and suffering.
"It's not just today and tomorrow - it's for years afterwards. The Dublin bomb victims of 1974 are still going through trauma and injuries.
"I was talking to one of them this morning and she said it brought it all back. I wished to God the people who did it (Omagh) would just think for a minute what they are doing.
"I have two kids. There is no sense and no meaning to what was done," said Mrs Quinn.
"Everybody is just stunned. Everybody that you meet just feels the same way."
Beibhinn Byrne from Donnybrook said: "It's sheer loss and sheer destruction. I think we should all feel that loss, as if it was each and every one of us."
Said Niall Duignan of Leeson Street: "I can't see any reasoning just leaving a bomb on a busy street. I just think it's awful."
Joanna, one of a group of five teenagers who went to the Mansion House, said she had friends in Omagh. "I am disgusted and heartbroken that such a thing could have happened. I don't know if anyone I know has been hurt."
She described the people of Omagh as kind and nice. "It's terrible that such a thing should have happened to them."
A group of New Jersey police and firemen, regular visitors to this country, called on the Lord Mayor to extend their sympathies.
Speaking for his group, Tom Drury, president of the NJ Emerald Society, said: "They all want whoever did it to be brought to justice, promptly. There are so many good people on both sides who want to make it (peace process) work."
Marie and Frank Mulcahy travelled from Celbridge, Co Kildare with their four children. "We came to show empathy and sympathy to the people of Omagh. It's utterly shameful." Dublin's Lord Mayor visited Omagh at the weekend to meet civic leaders and express the capital's solidarity with the people. A number of people he met recalled the bombings in Dublin and felt he was sharing in their great loss.
He hopes to present the signed books of condolence to the chairperson of Omagh urban council at a later date.
Courtesy of Irish Examiner
by Jim Morahan
YOUNG and old - singly, in groups and in families - came to offer their sympathy in Dublin's Mansion House yesterday.
They walked up the eight steps, heavy-footed with grief, to sign the book of condolence opened at noon by Lord Mayor Joe Doyle.
Two young girls carried a bouquet of flowers. The message read: "In loving memory of the victims of the Omagh bombing from the children of Dublin."
Among the first to sign was Mrs Susan McHugh, a Clontarf mother of two children and member of Peace 93 group in Dublin, set up after the Warrington bombing.
"It's just so senseless," said Mrs McHugh, struggling with tears in her voice.
As the fiends were exploding the Omagh bomb last Saturday, she stood with Co Antrim mother Mrs Chrissie Quinn by the grave of her three young sons, victims of a recent atrocity. The Quinn brothers died when fire-bombers attacked their Ballymoney home. At the fateful moment, the two mothers were at the graveside of the little boys.
Struggling to find words to describe the Omagh outrage, Mrs McHugh said: "You wished to God the people who did it could see the grief and suffering.
"It's not just today and tomorrow - it's for years afterwards. The Dublin bomb victims of 1974 are still going through trauma and injuries.
"I was talking to one of them this morning and she said it brought it all back. I wished to God the people who did it (Omagh) would just think for a minute what they are doing.
"I have two kids. There is no sense and no meaning to what was done," said Mrs Quinn.
"Everybody is just stunned. Everybody that you meet just feels the same way."
Beibhinn Byrne from Donnybrook said: "It's sheer loss and sheer destruction. I think we should all feel that loss, as if it was each and every one of us."
Said Niall Duignan of Leeson Street: "I can't see any reasoning just leaving a bomb on a busy street. I just think it's awful."
Joanna, one of a group of five teenagers who went to the Mansion House, said she had friends in Omagh. "I am disgusted and heartbroken that such a thing could have happened. I don't know if anyone I know has been hurt."
She described the people of Omagh as kind and nice. "It's terrible that such a thing should have happened to them."
A group of New Jersey police and firemen, regular visitors to this country, called on the Lord Mayor to extend their sympathies.
Speaking for his group, Tom Drury, president of the NJ Emerald Society, said: "They all want whoever did it to be brought to justice, promptly. There are so many good people on both sides who want to make it (peace process) work."
Marie and Frank Mulcahy travelled from Celbridge, Co Kildare with their four children. "We came to show empathy and sympathy to the people of Omagh. It's utterly shameful." Dublin's Lord Mayor visited Omagh at the weekend to meet civic leaders and express the capital's solidarity with the people. A number of people he met recalled the bombings in Dublin and felt he was sharing in their great loss.
He hopes to present the signed books of condolence to the chairperson of Omagh urban council at a later date.
Courtesy of Irish Examiner
Further Information
Publisher: THE EXAMINER
Ref: TEX/066
Published Date: 18-Aug-98
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