Enniskillen bomb victims '˜left in limbo' by Catholic Church's refusal of memorial

Sharon Harrington-Gault was speaking after families of the victims appealed to the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland to allow a memorial at the original bomb site.

A memorial to the 12 victims was unveiled at the Clinton Centre in November to mark 30 years since the IRA attack on the Remembrance Sunday event in 1987.

However, St Michael’s Diocesan Trust, which owns the site, did not give permission for it to remain, so it was removed after the ceremony.

Monsignor Peter O’Reilly, parish priest of Enniskillen and a trust director, released a statement on Friday rejecting the memorial, saying its size poses “insurmountable” problems for access to the site, and also that there were issues around maintenance and “liability” for insurance purposes.

It emerged yesterday that the response has prompted the families to take their case to the Catholic Primate of Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin.

Mrs Harrington-Gault said: “We are just in complete limbo. The letter released by the diocese last week did not say they would contact us or what the next step would be. It just gave reasons for rejecting the memorial.”

She has tried to meet with Monsignor O’Reilly “many times” since November.

“But they said there was no merit in meeting with me, even though I am one of their parishioners. We had no idea the church was going to the media on Friday with their reasons for rejecting it. It is absolutely retraumatising for all the victims.”

A victims’ group had agreed to take on responsibility for insurance and upkeep of the memorial, she added.

Her husband, Stephen Gault, whose father was killed in the bomb, told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster (GMU): “We are deeply hurt, upset is an understatement, but not surprised. Over the years we have had different memorials or tributes to the Enniskillen bombing, the one in the ambulance station which was removed [and] we had the controversy 10 years ago with the fire station [collage which was also removed], and now this.”

GMU asked Margaret Veitch, whose parents were also killed in the atrocity, if there was any possibility of compromise on the design of the memorial. She replied: “There could be room for compromise but nobody will meet with us. Monsignor O’Reilly and Monsignor McGuinness will not meet with the families. We have requested for months and nobody will meet with us.”

Mr Gault said the dimensions of the memorial were in the planning application for feedback and were formally approved by planners.

Aileen Quinton, whose mother was killed in the bomb, said: “My concern would be that actually people don’t want this to be remembered, they want this to be forgotten about.

“The shame in all this should be attached to the people that went out to murder people. But the shame seems to be at the want and need to have a memorial.”

In a statement released last week the Catholic trust which owns the land said it “has no objection to a permanent memorial being erected to the victims of the Enniskillen bombing”.

It added that there was “no consultation” with the trust before this memorial was commissioned, resulting in its scale being unsuitable for the site.

“It should be clear from the foregoing that the trust is not in a position to sanction the siting of this memorial as proposed.

“We are happy that the redeveloped Clinton Centre will include a memorial to the victims of the Enniskillen bombing and the trust hopes that a suitable location for the [contested] Ely Centre memorial will be found.”

The letter to the families on April 27 stated that the parish would be informed of the rejection via the parish website on May 2, it added.