Editorial: The Omagh bomb inquiry could be very expensive and turn against the RUC, yet there is almost no debate about the wisdom of such a probe

​There are profound problems with the decision yesterday to order a major inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bomb.​

The families of course deserve truth, even though it has been clear for years that they will not get justice. They have been through agony, as the last big group of civilian victims of Irish republican murderers to see their killers escape sanction.

But there are reasons why it is unwise to launch a major inquiry. One is that the legacy of the Troubles is being examined in a piecemeal, and unfair way. Those whose loved ones died in large, collective incidents such as Bloody Sunday, Ballymurphy and Kingsmills are far more likely to get scrutiny than those killed alone – by far the largest number of the dead.

Killings by the security forces are far more likely to be examined than those by terrorists. A raft of state killings are going to inquest. But worse, latterly soldiers are far more likely to face trial than the terrorists who killed 90% of the dead (most state killings were legal).

That the Omagh deaths are not in fact state killings might appear to re-balance things, but as one relative, Claire Radford, says this might turn against the security forces. Indeed it might. Already the massive scrutiny of the RUC response to Omagh has left a sense that police and terrorist were equally to blame. Likewise in the IRA Good Samaritan bombing and in other cases where the RUC is being subtly blamed for not preventing IRA atrocities.

There is another factor. The inquiry will cost millions when already public services in NI are at breaking point. Yet there is almost no debate about whether it is wise to be spending so much on probes into events that happened decades ago, in which it is increasingly hard to get satisfactory answers.

This Omagh decision follows a court ruling. But politicians must decide legacy policy, not judges.