OUR LOVE FOR OMAGH DEAD WILL NEVER END
Our love for Omagh dead will never end
Report by JILLY BEATTIE in Omagh
TOWN REMEMBERS BOMB VICTIMS 4YRS ON
HUNDREDS gathered in Omagh yesterday to mark the fourth anniversary of the bomb that ripped through the town killing 31 people and injuring many more.
As the sun shone on the cross community service, friends and families wept while remembering the moment they heard the news of the atrocity and the unbearable hours, days and months that followed.
Many relatives of the dead and injured sat hand in hand in the memorial garden, others though, preferred to deal with their grief and memories in private after earlier laying bunches of flowers among the roses.
Three teenage friends Blanaid Kerr, Bronagh Donnelly and Laura McAllister, who each lost loved ones, laid a wreath from the people of Omagh. Michael Gallagher, whose son, Aidan, 21, was murdered in the Real IRA blast, described the service as a reflection of the community's pain for the past and hope for the future.
He said: "This is a difficult day for all of us and many have been unable to face being here today.
"But the service was perfect. It reflected how our community is still feeling the pain and sorrow caused by the bomb four years ago, but it also reflected the hope we now have that we will get justice one day.
"For our family, this day is for Aidan.
"The public grieving is not easy but we will be together as a family at his graveside in a few hours and we will have our time with him on our own."
Building work on the bomb-site beside the memorial garden stopped at 1pm and builders stood solemnly as a minute's silence marked the start of the service.
As the names of the dead were read out many of the public struggled with their emotions.
Reverend Derek Quinn vowed that despite the years that have passed and will follow the bomb, the victims of the massacre will never be forgotten.
He said: "Our love for the dead and injured will not come to an end."
Kathleen McNamee, from The Church Forum, said: "Our prayers enfold them and enfold victims of recent days and weeks and all whose lives were lost in the years and centuries of our conflict, with all the injured and maimed and the distressed.
"No hand should have been raised against our dearest ones. No mind should have risked or facilitated their deaths.
"The search for the truth continues and the deep desire to reset the scales of justice, where only total love and respect for all can truly balance the worth of each precious life.
"Nor will our love for all the victims of our times, victims of impatient and unkind hearts, victims of Jealous and selfish spirits, victims of desperate and deceitful minds."
The Spanish tourists, who died in the blast, Fernando Blasco Baselga and Rocio Amas, were also remembered, along with the friends from Donegal who visited Omagh on that fateful Saturday afternoon.
Fr Micheal Keaveny said: "On this day four years ago children from Spain and Buncrana, with their leaders, were among those who came into our street.
"They shared horribly in the afternoon's atrocity."
And he revealed that Omagh will host members of Spain's Special Olympics team next year.
Fr Keaveny said: "They will bravely return here and we will embrace them with hope.
"We dedicate ourselves again to a search for peace, a peace where no one is forgotten."
Report by JILLY BEATTIE in Omagh
TOWN REMEMBERS BOMB VICTIMS 4YRS ON
HUNDREDS gathered in Omagh yesterday to mark the fourth anniversary of the bomb that ripped through the town killing 31 people and injuring many more.
As the sun shone on the cross community service, friends and families wept while remembering the moment they heard the news of the atrocity and the unbearable hours, days and months that followed.
Many relatives of the dead and injured sat hand in hand in the memorial garden, others though, preferred to deal with their grief and memories in private after earlier laying bunches of flowers among the roses.
Three teenage friends Blanaid Kerr, Bronagh Donnelly and Laura McAllister, who each lost loved ones, laid a wreath from the people of Omagh. Michael Gallagher, whose son, Aidan, 21, was murdered in the Real IRA blast, described the service as a reflection of the community's pain for the past and hope for the future.
He said: "This is a difficult day for all of us and many have been unable to face being here today.
"But the service was perfect. It reflected how our community is still feeling the pain and sorrow caused by the bomb four years ago, but it also reflected the hope we now have that we will get justice one day.
"For our family, this day is for Aidan.
"The public grieving is not easy but we will be together as a family at his graveside in a few hours and we will have our time with him on our own."
Building work on the bomb-site beside the memorial garden stopped at 1pm and builders stood solemnly as a minute's silence marked the start of the service.
As the names of the dead were read out many of the public struggled with their emotions.
Reverend Derek Quinn vowed that despite the years that have passed and will follow the bomb, the victims of the massacre will never be forgotten.
He said: "Our love for the dead and injured will not come to an end."
Kathleen McNamee, from The Church Forum, said: "Our prayers enfold them and enfold victims of recent days and weeks and all whose lives were lost in the years and centuries of our conflict, with all the injured and maimed and the distressed.
"No hand should have been raised against our dearest ones. No mind should have risked or facilitated their deaths.
"The search for the truth continues and the deep desire to reset the scales of justice, where only total love and respect for all can truly balance the worth of each precious life.
"Nor will our love for all the victims of our times, victims of impatient and unkind hearts, victims of Jealous and selfish spirits, victims of desperate and deceitful minds."
The Spanish tourists, who died in the blast, Fernando Blasco Baselga and Rocio Amas, were also remembered, along with the friends from Donegal who visited Omagh on that fateful Saturday afternoon.
Fr Micheal Keaveny said: "On this day four years ago children from Spain and Buncrana, with their leaders, were among those who came into our street.
"They shared horribly in the afternoon's atrocity."
And he revealed that Omagh will host members of Spain's Special Olympics team next year.
Fr Keaveny said: "They will bravely return here and we will embrace them with hope.
"We dedicate ourselves again to a search for peace, a peace where no one is forgotten."
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/169
Published Date: 16-Aug-02
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