FUND MONEY SHOULD BE USED AS RELATIVES DESIRE
Fund money should be used as relatives desire
I read the article in last week's UlsterHerald entitled 'Mentally scarred denied help from Omagh' with some interest.
As the father of a child murdered in Omagh on the 15th August 1998 I was very surprised by the way the fund was "set up" by the trustees.
They chose to set up a "discretionary fund" and a separate "charitable fund" I am told on the advice of trustees who administered the "Dunblane Disaster Fund". This seems odd. Surely they could have procured a dispensation from Government that any sums contributed to the Omagh Fund could be used for the purpose which the donors thought they were being used - to bring relief to the bereaved and injured?
Friends of our family raised over �110,000 for the Fund with the support of many generous professional golfers at the "James Barker Memorial Golf Day" at St George's Hill Golf Club Weybridge Surrey - I am sure everyone that so generously donated money on that day would not have believed that all or any part of that sum would be put into a "Charitable Trust".
When I asked the Trustees to donate some of that "charitable trust" to the Omagh Victims Legal Trust (to fund the civil action against those believed to be responsible) the request was dismissed out of hand.
Sean O'Dwyer is doing his best in difficult circumstances.but I am afraid that his attitude towards the bereaved has not always met with universal approval.
The same seems to be the case, it would appear, in relation to those who have suffered mental shock.
Victor Barker
I read the article in last week's UlsterHerald entitled 'Mentally scarred denied help from Omagh' with some interest.
As the father of a child murdered in Omagh on the 15th August 1998 I was very surprised by the way the fund was "set up" by the trustees.
They chose to set up a "discretionary fund" and a separate "charitable fund" I am told on the advice of trustees who administered the "Dunblane Disaster Fund". This seems odd. Surely they could have procured a dispensation from Government that any sums contributed to the Omagh Fund could be used for the purpose which the donors thought they were being used - to bring relief to the bereaved and injured?
Friends of our family raised over �110,000 for the Fund with the support of many generous professional golfers at the "James Barker Memorial Golf Day" at St George's Hill Golf Club Weybridge Surrey - I am sure everyone that so generously donated money on that day would not have believed that all or any part of that sum would be put into a "Charitable Trust".
When I asked the Trustees to donate some of that "charitable trust" to the Omagh Victims Legal Trust (to fund the civil action against those believed to be responsible) the request was dismissed out of hand.
Sean O'Dwyer is doing his best in difficult circumstances.but I am afraid that his attitude towards the bereaved has not always met with universal approval.
The same seems to be the case, it would appear, in relation to those who have suffered mental shock.
Victor Barker
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1099
Published Date: 12-Sep-02
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