Council vote to block extradition of Omagh bomber will be ‘too close to call’

On Wednesday night at Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, independent councillor Bernice Swift proposed a motion against the extradition of Dundalk man Liam Campbell to Lithuania to face weapons trafficking charges.

Mr Campbell was previously found liable in a civil court for the worst single atrocity of the Troubles, the Real IRA Omagh bomb in 1998, which killed 29 people and two unborn children.

On Wednesday night Ms Swift’s committee motion against Mr Campbell’s extradition was passed 23 to 14 with one abstention, with the support of Sinn Fein and the SDLP.

The day after the voter SDLP leader Colum Eastwood issued an apology to the Omagh Bomb families and said his councillors would oppose the motion when it comes before the full council on July 23.

But UUP group leader on the council, Councillor Victor Warrington, said last night that even if all five SDLP councillors turn up and then vote against the motion, it will still be “too close to close call”.

The councillor currently has 15 unionist councillors, 15 Sinn Fein, five SDLP and six indepdent or single party members, he said. “So I would say the balance of power hangs with the independents.”

All independents supported the original motion bar one, who abstained.

“I would be very disappointed if the independents did not take a long hard look at themselves this time. The Omagh Bomb killed both local Catholics and Protestants, as well as people from Spain, Donegal and England and a woman who was pregnant with twins,” he noted. ““This [motion] has caused immense hurt”.

“But Sinn Fein have to take a close look at themselves too,” he added. “Because in my understanding they condemned the Omagh bomb but now they are supporting an Omagh bomber.

The controversial meeting on Wednesday ended about 10pm. At one minute past the hour, a “delighted” Ms Swift reported her success back to John Connolly, a former prison commander of the Real IRA - the organisation which carried out the bombing. He is now chairman of the Cavan and Fermanagh Republican Sinn Fein. He posted her message on Facebook in celebration. 

Claire Monteith, whose 16-year-old brother Alan was killed in the bombing, said she had seen the messaging.

“To know that 20 years after the bomb I am raising a family amongst people who supported this motion is sickening beyond words,” she said.

• An outdoor memorial service remembering the 10 Protestent workmen murdered by the IRA at Kingsmills, in South Armagh in 1976 was held last night, Sunday in the centre of nearby Bessbrook.

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