INDIFFERENCE TO GRIEVING FAMILIES
Indifference to grieving families
Queen Elizabeth II, the British monarch, Head of State, came to Omagh for about 25 minutes on Tuesday, shook hands with a select gathering, waved to the crowds, and went away.
However, the visit did leave a legacy. For a start, it highlighted the new agenda of the Northern Ireland Office: Let's pretend the Omagh bereaved don't exist; and let's pretend the peace process doesn't exist. In short, the NIO, working no doubt with some local agencies, decided not to tarnish the visit by making any mention of the bomb.
Similarly, with little finesse or sensitivity, the NIO and its advisors massively over-played the security situation. They made the lower segment of Market Street and the Dublin Road look more like an armed stockade than a peaceful town.
There was no threat to the Queen; there were no protests and there was never a question of an 'incident'. Therefore, the 'wartime' security measures with helicopter hovering overhead and light aeroplane circling, not to mention rooftop snipers and soldiers in the undergrowth were over the top.
Yet it was only the oafish snub to bereaved relatives of the 1998 bomb that marked the visit as something out of the ordinary. To many in Omagh and district perhaps even to most nationalists the visit of the Queen of England caused little real excitement. For Unionists, however, the visit was momentous and an assurance that their non-monarchist neighbours won't rain on the parade.
It was all the more disgraceful then that members of that community who were bereaved in the Omagh bombing were not invited to either of the garden parties or even to the library 'line-up'. One such couple, Godfrey and Anne Wilson whose daughter Lorraine was murdered in the Omagh blast stood in the rain for well over an hour in the hope of meeting the Queen!
Meanwhile, there has been no satisfactory explanation for the exclusion of any of the sites connected with the tragedy from the itinerary, save that Dr Reid's office thinks the issue shouldn't trouble 'important visitors'. It is time that the Northern Ireland Office, and indeed the British government realised that wishing suffering away won't make it go away.
Either Britain should seriously, and in a meaningful way, engage with all of the victims of the Troubles and help with the healing process, or it should come out and say that it has formally drawn a line and face the consequences of its indifference to the people of Omagh, Enniskillen, Monaghan, Derry, etc.
With talk of a Royal visit to Dublin, a time of healing has come. The NIO needs to drop its war readiness and get down to the business of peace.
Queen Elizabeth II, the British monarch, Head of State, came to Omagh for about 25 minutes on Tuesday, shook hands with a select gathering, waved to the crowds, and went away.
However, the visit did leave a legacy. For a start, it highlighted the new agenda of the Northern Ireland Office: Let's pretend the Omagh bereaved don't exist; and let's pretend the peace process doesn't exist. In short, the NIO, working no doubt with some local agencies, decided not to tarnish the visit by making any mention of the bomb.
Similarly, with little finesse or sensitivity, the NIO and its advisors massively over-played the security situation. They made the lower segment of Market Street and the Dublin Road look more like an armed stockade than a peaceful town.
There was no threat to the Queen; there were no protests and there was never a question of an 'incident'. Therefore, the 'wartime' security measures with helicopter hovering overhead and light aeroplane circling, not to mention rooftop snipers and soldiers in the undergrowth were over the top.
Yet it was only the oafish snub to bereaved relatives of the 1998 bomb that marked the visit as something out of the ordinary. To many in Omagh and district perhaps even to most nationalists the visit of the Queen of England caused little real excitement. For Unionists, however, the visit was momentous and an assurance that their non-monarchist neighbours won't rain on the parade.
It was all the more disgraceful then that members of that community who were bereaved in the Omagh bombing were not invited to either of the garden parties or even to the library 'line-up'. One such couple, Godfrey and Anne Wilson whose daughter Lorraine was murdered in the Omagh blast stood in the rain for well over an hour in the hope of meeting the Queen!
Meanwhile, there has been no satisfactory explanation for the exclusion of any of the sites connected with the tragedy from the itinerary, save that Dr Reid's office thinks the issue shouldn't trouble 'important visitors'. It is time that the Northern Ireland Office, and indeed the British government realised that wishing suffering away won't make it go away.
Either Britain should seriously, and in a meaningful way, engage with all of the victims of the Troubles and help with the healing process, or it should come out and say that it has formally drawn a line and face the consequences of its indifference to the people of Omagh, Enniskillen, Monaghan, Derry, etc.
With talk of a Royal visit to Dublin, a time of healing has come. The NIO needs to drop its war readiness and get down to the business of peace.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1021
Published Date: 16-May-02
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