Fears new memorial on Enniskillen bomb site could contain names of terrorists

The centre built on the site of the 1987 Poppy Day Bomb in Enniskillen could soon contain a new memorial which will include perpetrators of terrorist offences, it is feared.
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Sharon Harrington-Gault, whose father-in-law was one of 12 people killed in the bomb, was speaking after the Catholic church declined to allow the victims’ own memorial outside the Clinton Centre, situated on the bomb site.

The Catholic trust which owns the land, St Michael’s Diocesan Trust, has said that the centre is to be renovated and with its own internal memorial for victims.

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But Mrs Harrington Gault is concerned that the centre’s own memorial will include terrorists.

The memorial to the Enniskillen victims was unveiled at a  service last November to mark 30 years since the attackThe memorial to the Enniskillen victims was unveiled at a  service last November to mark 30 years since the attack
The memorial to the Enniskillen victims was unveiled at a service last November to mark 30 years since the attack

She said plans for an internal memorial were disclosed by Bill Clinton last year when he visited Northern Ireland.

“It is my understanding that there will be a memorial inside the Clinton Centre for ‘all’ victims,” she said.

She wrote to the Clinton Foundation earlier this year asking if they were planning to adopt plans formerly mooted for the Maze prison, “where the innocent victims’ names are displayed alongside the perpetrators?” She added: “I never got a reply.”

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Comments by Monsignor Peter O’Reilly of the diocesan trust on Good Morning Ulster on May 4 heightened her fears, she said.

Asked if he would commit to work with the families about locating their own memorial on the trust’s grounds, he replied that this decision could not be taken in isolation but that “all of the victims have to be involved” and because it is a public space “it has to be something that involves the general public”. Another factor to be considered was “the whole business of memorialisation that affects Northern Ireland in general”.

However, a trust spokesman said the nature of the centre’s own memorial would be decided by those overseeing renovations; Dublin City University, Ulster University, the University of Massachusetts and the Fermanagh University Partnership Board.

A recent statement by the trust said the redeveloped centre “will include a memorial to the victims of the Enniskillen bombing” he added.

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He also referred to a recent publication by Dublin City University which states that “the new-look centre will include a memorial to the 12 victims of the attack”.

The Clinton Foundation has been asked to comment.