OMAGH FAMILIES TO DISCUSS MEMORIAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Omagh families to discuss memorial recommendations
BY ADRIAN MULLAN
A NUMBER of bereaved Omagh bombing families will meet tonight (Monday) to consider the recommendations of a facilitation group on the inscription of a memorial stone, after Omagh District Council accepted its proposals.
The independent fact-finding group, headed by Rev Dr John Dunlop, decided on Thursday that the new memorial will say victims of the 1998 atrocity were murdered in a 'dissident republican terrorist car bomb.'
Michael Gallagher, of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, said he was pleased that the group's proposals had decided that the wording on the original tribute stone was important enough to be included in the new memorial garden.
"It is important that the message, 'To honour and remember 31 people murdered and hundreds injured from three nations by a dissident republican terrorist car bomb', be included on the memorial stone," said Mr Gallagher. "I hope the message will now be given due prominence and not be the size of a postage stamp."
Mr Gallagher said that neither he nor any of the other bereaved families had been invited to Thursday's meeting, and also claimed that Omagh District Council hadn't even made them aware that it was taking place.
"It would have been common courtesy to let the families know the event was happening and to ask them if they would have liked to attend."
Mr Gallagher accepted that Dr Dunlop's group had a very difficult job to do and was put under pressure from all directions, including the Self Help group.
"But the reality is that there was no need for the facilitators to be called in the first place. The matter could have been resolved by the councillors and the families sitting down around a table and talking it through."
He added that the handling of the issue had brought a lot of negative publicity to Omagh and it will take time to re-build trust between the council and the families he represents.
Dr John Dunlop told the Tyrone Herald that he thought it had been the families' decision not to attend the meeting.
A spokesperson for Omagh District Council said it does not invite anybody to its meetings, but stressed that all of the families affected would have received copies of the recommendations from Dr Dunlop's group on or as near to 7.30pm as possible, the time at which the meeting began in Omagh on Thursday evening.
The council spokesperson said she believed that Mr Gallagher was aware as early as Wednesday that the meeting was to take place.
BY ADRIAN MULLAN
A NUMBER of bereaved Omagh bombing families will meet tonight (Monday) to consider the recommendations of a facilitation group on the inscription of a memorial stone, after Omagh District Council accepted its proposals.
The independent fact-finding group, headed by Rev Dr John Dunlop, decided on Thursday that the new memorial will say victims of the 1998 atrocity were murdered in a 'dissident republican terrorist car bomb.'
Michael Gallagher, of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, said he was pleased that the group's proposals had decided that the wording on the original tribute stone was important enough to be included in the new memorial garden.
"It is important that the message, 'To honour and remember 31 people murdered and hundreds injured from three nations by a dissident republican terrorist car bomb', be included on the memorial stone," said Mr Gallagher. "I hope the message will now be given due prominence and not be the size of a postage stamp."
Mr Gallagher said that neither he nor any of the other bereaved families had been invited to Thursday's meeting, and also claimed that Omagh District Council hadn't even made them aware that it was taking place.
"It would have been common courtesy to let the families know the event was happening and to ask them if they would have liked to attend."
Mr Gallagher accepted that Dr Dunlop's group had a very difficult job to do and was put under pressure from all directions, including the Self Help group.
"But the reality is that there was no need for the facilitators to be called in the first place. The matter could have been resolved by the councillors and the families sitting down around a table and talking it through."
He added that the handling of the issue had brought a lot of negative publicity to Omagh and it will take time to re-build trust between the council and the families he represents.
Dr John Dunlop told the Tyrone Herald that he thought it had been the families' decision not to attend the meeting.
A spokesperson for Omagh District Council said it does not invite anybody to its meetings, but stressed that all of the families affected would have received copies of the recommendations from Dr Dunlop's group on or as near to 7.30pm as possible, the time at which the meeting began in Omagh on Thursday evening.
The council spokesperson said she believed that Mr Gallagher was aware as early as Wednesday that the meeting was to take place.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE HERALD
Ref: TYH/066
Published Date: 10-Mar-08
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