BLAIR STILL MOVED TO TEARS AT MEMORY OF OMAGH BOMBING
Blair still 'moved to tears' at memory of Omagh bombing
BY ALAN RODGERS
a.rodgers@ulsterherald.com
FORMER British Prime Minister, Tony Blair has described how he is still "moved to tears" when thinking about his visit to Omagh in the immediate aftermath of the 1998 bomb atrocity.
The first Labour premier since the 1970s was in France on holiday when 31 people were killed at Market Street on August 15 that year.
He recounts how he was informed of the bomb at 3.30pm on that Saturday afternoon, and that the savagery of the attack had become clear by 5pm.
"I went to Northern Ireland and visited the injured. Even now I cannot think of it without tears," he says in the recently published autobiography entitled Tony Blair - A Journey.
"I met a girl who had lost her sight, but was determined to make the best of her life as she later proved and I met the father of the pregnant woman.
"If the families had been angry or taken it out on me - 'If you hadn't started this, they would still be alive,' a sentiment voiced by some -I could have kept my composure; what completely broke me down was their quiet dignity, their limitless sadness for the loved ones they would never see or hold or speak to again.*
Mr Blair went on to remark how people often forget that the worst attack in the history of the Troubles came after the Good Friday Agreement.
And, in a chapter entitled 'Peace in Northern Ireland,' he goes on to recall the circumstances of the attack which horrified the world and still has reverberations locally 12 years on.
"Twenty-nine people died. Many others were badly injured. Still more bear the mental scars for life," he continues.
"Among the dead was a woman pregnant with twins, whose mother and daughter also died, and four youngsters from Spain and their escort who were on an exchange trip...
"The terrorists had given a warning, but for the wrong place and the police had unwittingly moved the crowd into the path of the bomb."
He said that the "supreme human tragedy" caused by the bomb had made the government respond by driving the peace process faster and further on.
BY ALAN RODGERS
a.rodgers@ulsterherald.com
FORMER British Prime Minister, Tony Blair has described how he is still "moved to tears" when thinking about his visit to Omagh in the immediate aftermath of the 1998 bomb atrocity.
The first Labour premier since the 1970s was in France on holiday when 31 people were killed at Market Street on August 15 that year.
He recounts how he was informed of the bomb at 3.30pm on that Saturday afternoon, and that the savagery of the attack had become clear by 5pm.
"I went to Northern Ireland and visited the injured. Even now I cannot think of it without tears," he says in the recently published autobiography entitled Tony Blair - A Journey.
"I met a girl who had lost her sight, but was determined to make the best of her life as she later proved and I met the father of the pregnant woman.
"If the families had been angry or taken it out on me - 'If you hadn't started this, they would still be alive,' a sentiment voiced by some -I could have kept my composure; what completely broke me down was their quiet dignity, their limitless sadness for the loved ones they would never see or hold or speak to again.*
Mr Blair went on to remark how people often forget that the worst attack in the history of the Troubles came after the Good Friday Agreement.
And, in a chapter entitled 'Peace in Northern Ireland,' he goes on to recall the circumstances of the attack which horrified the world and still has reverberations locally 12 years on.
"Twenty-nine people died. Many others were badly injured. Still more bear the mental scars for life," he continues.
"Among the dead was a woman pregnant with twins, whose mother and daughter also died, and four youngsters from Spain and their escort who were on an exchange trip...
"The terrorists had given a warning, but for the wrong place and the police had unwittingly moved the crowd into the path of the bomb."
He said that the "supreme human tragedy" caused by the bomb had made the government respond by driving the peace process faster and further on.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/2013
Published Date: 09-Sep-10
Related Images
