LAUGHING AT VICTIMS
LAUGHING AT VICTIMS
By ROSA PRINCE
IT was a sickening scene. While Michael Gallagher lovingly described his murdered son on Panorama, drinkers in a Dundalk bar watching the programme laughed into their beer.
I was stunned as laughter drowned out his words.
If there was any anger revealed in the local pub, it was reserved for the makers of the programme and its presenter John Ware.
Like the bombers, the drinkers were uninterested in victims' pain.
Their reason for watching was to see which of the gang who caused the deaths of 29 people and two unborn babies would feature in the programme.
One man said: "Everyone here knows the people the police questioned. We wanted to see who would be named.
"I didn't actually think the programme showed anything people didn't know already."
What prompted their laughter was the picture and description of Adrian Gallagher, an innocent young man in the prime of his life, a loving son and brother blown to pieces as he shopped with friend.
No tears were shed by the women drinkers in the bar - some of them perhaps mothers themselves - as Bernie Doherty described saying goodbye to her eight-year-old son Oran for the last time.
The little boy from Buncrana, Co Donegal, was blown to pieces alongside his school friends as they joined a party of Spanish exchange students on a day trip to Omagh.
The description of her son's little coffin was heartbreaking.
But the expressions on the faces in pub remained blank.
It may have been a dull night for some of Dundalk's drinkers but for Michael Gallagher, it was another example of how low a few people can stoop.
By ROSA PRINCE
IT was a sickening scene. While Michael Gallagher lovingly described his murdered son on Panorama, drinkers in a Dundalk bar watching the programme laughed into their beer.
I was stunned as laughter drowned out his words.
If there was any anger revealed in the local pub, it was reserved for the makers of the programme and its presenter John Ware.
Like the bombers, the drinkers were uninterested in victims' pain.
Their reason for watching was to see which of the gang who caused the deaths of 29 people and two unborn babies would feature in the programme.
One man said: "Everyone here knows the people the police questioned. We wanted to see who would be named.
"I didn't actually think the programme showed anything people didn't know already."
What prompted their laughter was the picture and description of Adrian Gallagher, an innocent young man in the prime of his life, a loving son and brother blown to pieces as he shopped with friend.
No tears were shed by the women drinkers in the bar - some of them perhaps mothers themselves - as Bernie Doherty described saying goodbye to her eight-year-old son Oran for the last time.
The little boy from Buncrana, Co Donegal, was blown to pieces alongside his school friends as they joined a party of Spanish exchange students on a day trip to Omagh.
The description of her son's little coffin was heartbreaking.
But the expressions on the faces in pub remained blank.
It may have been a dull night for some of Dundalk's drinkers but for Michael Gallagher, it was another example of how low a few people can stoop.
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/217
Published Date: 11-Oct-00
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