Focus on victims ‘brings humanity’ to Omagh bomb inquiry – Gallagher
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the 1998 blast, said he hopes the inquiry will bring him answers.
A focus on victims at the public inquiry into the Omagh bombing will “bring humanity” to proceedings, the father of one of the victims has said.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the 1998 dissident republican blast in Northern Ireland, said it will be a difficult day.
Bereaved families and survivors have gathered at the Strule Arts Centre in the Co Tyrone town for the inquiry which will examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by UK authorities.
Scottish judge Lord Turnbull is overseeing the probe into the 1998 Real IRA bombing which claimed 29 lives, including a woman pregnant with twins.
Commemorative and personal statement hearings will be held over the next four weeks.
These will begin with bereaved families giving pen portrait evidence of those who died, followed by survivors, emergency services and those working in statutory organisations.
According to the inquiry schedule, Tuesday will hear commemorations of Fernando Blasco Baselga, 12, and Rocio Abad Ramo, 23, two Spanish nationals killed in the bombing.
Speaking as he arrived at the Strule Arts Centre on Tuesday morning, Mr Gallagher said the hearings will be difficult for him and the other bereaved relatives.
“It’s important to be here to support the other families, the Spanish families are giving evidence this morning, it’s going to be difficult,” he said.
“It brings a lot of it back, but it’s hugely important to focus this week and next week and the week after on the victims. In all of this, sometimes the voice of the victims is lost because there are so many technical arguments, but this brings humanity to it.”
Mr Gallagher, who campaigned for many years for the inquiry and took the legal action which result in a High Court judge ordering that the inquiry be called, said sometimes he felt like he had to pinch himself that it was happening.
“I just hope for me that this is the beginning of the end, that we do get the answers we need, that both the British Government and the Irish Government fully co-operate with the inquiry and as a bereaved parent I can say that’s all I can do, and I’m very grateful for everybody who helped us get to this point where we can see an end.”
The inquiry was announced by then-Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris in 2023 after a High Court judgment recommended a public inquiry into alleged security failings in the lead-up to the atrocity, and also urged the Irish authorities to establish their own probe.
The Irish Government has formally agreed to provide assistance to the inquiry.
In his opening statement to the inquiry last year, Lord Turnbull said the pain of bereavement and trauma caused by the dissident republican bomb attack spread beyond Omagh, Northern Ireland and Ireland to families from England and Spain.
He said the inquiry will undertake its task “rigorously and fearlessly”, and emphasised the “defining character of the inquiry must be its independence”.
Bereaved families have expressed hope that the process will provide them with answers about the worst atrocity of the Northern Ireland Troubles after decades of campaigning for a public inquiry.
