British government rules out Omagh inquiry

Posted by Jim on September 12, 2013

 The British government has refused calls for a public cross-Border
 inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing.

 The decision announced this morning preempted high-profile multi-party
 talks on the past by US envoy Richard Haass due to begin on Tuesday.

 The announcement came in a statement by British Direct Ruler in
 Ireland, Theresa Villiers, and in a letter to members of the Omagh
 Support and Self Help Group.

 In the letter, Ms Villiers said the British government had “after
 consultation and careful consideration” concluded that such an inquiry
 “is not in the public interest”.

 She said there were not sufficient grounds to justify a further review
 or inquiry beyond the current Police Ombudsman’s investigation.

 She added that there was support for an inquiry among a number of
 survivors and families of those killed in the bomb, but �others felt
 that a further inquiry would cause them considerable trauma�.

 �All these views were weighed against other factors, including the
 series of previous inquiries into the Omagh bomb and the current
 investigation by the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern
 Ireland,� it said.

 Last month just ahead of the August 15th fifteenth anniversary of the
 bombing the families said documents they presented to the Dublin and
 London governments over a year ago showed there was substantial
 evidence of foreknowledge state security forces of an attack on Omagh.
 Those documents came on top of evidence that a British Army
 communications team had been closely monitoring the mobile phones of
 the breakaway ‘Real IRA’ unit responsible for transporting the bomb,
 and had even hidden a tracking device inside the car being used.

 But on the day, the attack proceeded without any intervention. Two
 warning calls failed to clear the town centre area, and the bomb
 exploded, killing 29 people and two unborn twins.

 It was the most devastating loss of life since the Dublin and Monaghan
 bombings in 1974. The two attacks are often compared as possible
 British attempts to discourage support for the Provisional IRA and Real
 IRA, respectively.

 The families said last month that if necessary they were prepared to go
 to the courts to try to compel the British and Irish governments to
 hold and inquiry.

 Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was among the victims, condemned
 today’s decision, describing the reasons given by Ms Villiers for
 ruling out a public inquiry as �trivial�.

 The families would be seeking recourse, he said. �Should we be denied
 truth and justice because other people don�t want it?�

 He said he was �disappointed but not surprised� by the decision. �The
 reality is that Aiden need not have died.�

 Referring to British condemnation of the Syrian government, he said: �I
 think it�s important to note that this is a government who are actually
 holding other governments to account over human rights abuses.

 �Both the British and Irish governments failed to protect the human
 rights of those people.�

 He added: “We gave both governments a document over a year ago that
 shows that both the British and Irish government could have done
 something to prevent the Omagh bomb.

 “We have the result now – it’s not the result we wanted but at least we
 can move forward. We can go to the courts and that’s exactly what we
 will do.”