The families of those killed in the Omagh bombing have passed another important milestone on their painful quest to discover the full facts around the August 1998 attack, with the publication of the long awaited independent statutory inquiry’s terms of reference.
It will investigate four main areas. These include how intelligence was handled and shared, the use of mobile phone analysis, whether there was advance knowledge of the Real IRA’s bomb plans and if security services or police could have disrupted the attack.
Lord Turnbull, a Scottish judge, is chairing the inquiry which will have the power to compel witnesses to attend and documents to be produced. He has stressed the inquiry’s independence and says he wants to ensure that the voices of victims are heard clearly and intends to hold hearings in Omagh this year.
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That there are still serious questions to be answered over a bombing that took place more than a quarter of a century ago can only be regarded as a dreadful indictment of how the government, our politicians and society more widely has dealt with what we tend to describe, inadequately and euphemistically, as legacy issues.
It shouldn’t go unnoticed that Lord Turnbull’s inquiry is starting its work at the same time as the contentious Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery is preparing to take over Troubles investigations.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin says the Irish government will cooperate with the UK inquiry. But that is the very least it must do. The bombing was a cross-border atrocity and the Omagh families deserve a parallel independent inquiry in the Republic
Where the Omagh inquiry has been welcomed by victims and survivors, the ICRIR is a central part of the Tories’ iniquitous legacy legislation which has faced bitter opposition and legal challenge, including from the Irish government. Among other flaws, the new law means that Troubles inquests, such as that into the 1972 Springhill killings in west Belfast which continued this week, will cease by May.
The Omagh families are hopeful for a more positive outcome. The Real IRA is emphatically to blame for the planning, delivery and detonation of the bomb which killed 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins and injured hundreds of others, but there is no doubt that the families have also been repeatedly let down over the years by governments, the police and security services on both sides of the border.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin says the Irish government will cooperate with the UK inquiry. But that is the very least it must do. The bombing was a cross-border atrocity and the Omagh families deserve a parallel independent inquiry in the Republic.
