EXPLOSION HORRIFIES IRISH PRESIDENT
Explosion horrifies Irish President
BOMBERS are manic minority who are out of control - McAleese
Amidst the trauma of last weekends massive bomb which brought devastation to the Omagh Community, Irish President Mary McAleese, on her visit to the town spoke of how the scene evoked bitter memories of when her father's pub was car bombed in Belfast more than 20 years ago.
Speaking as she surveyed the bomb area in the town centre on Sunday Ms McAleese, the first Northern Ireland-born head of state, said "There is almost a holy silence here. People are only whispering to each other."
"Anybody parking the car yesterday with the bomb in it would have seen little shops on a very, very busy Saturday afternoon - mummies and daddies and shoppers up and down streets. That's what they would have seen - a scene of such simple humble innocence."
"Whoever planted that bomb, they knew exactly what they were doing. I had to say that, there is no other explanation that one can offer."
She arrived at the Omagh Leisure Complex just minutes after Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, had entered the building.
Earlier, she said that there was "a posse of serial killers at loose" on the island of Ireland who should be hunted down and brought to justice.
She stated that it was her intention to meet with some of the families, and to support the extraordinary relief work that hospital workers were engaged in.
"I just want to be there in what-ever way I can in order to support those ordinary people whose lives have been thrown so cruelly out of kilter."
The bombers had not been influenced by the debate within the republican movement which had led to the IRA ceasefire, she added.
She said the people responsible were a "recalcitrant, manic minority who are out of control and who are flying in the face of the express wish of all the people of this island in continuing a campaign of murder and hatred."
BOMBERS are manic minority who are out of control - McAleese
Amidst the trauma of last weekends massive bomb which brought devastation to the Omagh Community, Irish President Mary McAleese, on her visit to the town spoke of how the scene evoked bitter memories of when her father's pub was car bombed in Belfast more than 20 years ago.
Speaking as she surveyed the bomb area in the town centre on Sunday Ms McAleese, the first Northern Ireland-born head of state, said "There is almost a holy silence here. People are only whispering to each other."
"Anybody parking the car yesterday with the bomb in it would have seen little shops on a very, very busy Saturday afternoon - mummies and daddies and shoppers up and down streets. That's what they would have seen - a scene of such simple humble innocence."
"Whoever planted that bomb, they knew exactly what they were doing. I had to say that, there is no other explanation that one can offer."
She arrived at the Omagh Leisure Complex just minutes after Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, had entered the building.
Earlier, she said that there was "a posse of serial killers at loose" on the island of Ireland who should be hunted down and brought to justice.
She stated that it was her intention to meet with some of the families, and to support the extraordinary relief work that hospital workers were engaged in.
"I just want to be there in what-ever way I can in order to support those ordinary people whose lives have been thrown so cruelly out of kilter."
The bombers had not been influenced by the debate within the republican movement which had led to the IRA ceasefire, she added.
She said the people responsible were a "recalcitrant, manic minority who are out of control and who are flying in the face of the express wish of all the people of this island in continuing a campaign of murder and hatred."
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0066
Published Date: 20-Aug-98
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