Omagh bomb: Irish government 'committed to co-operating with independent inquiry', says solicitor for families

Tanaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin and Justice Minister Helen McEntee met with family members of some of those who lost their lives in the dissident republican blast which hit the Co Tyrone town on August 15 1998.

The bomb killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured hundreds of others.

In 2021, a Belfast High Court judge recommended that the UK government carry out an investigation into alleged security failings in the lead up to the attack, and that a similar investigation should be established by the Irish government.

The UK’s Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris announced in February that there would be an independent inquiry into the fatal explosion, and Lord Turnbull has been appointed as the chair.

Omagh bomb campaigners Stanley McCombe, who lost his wife Ann; Michael Gallagher, who lost his son Aiden; and his daughter Cat Gallagher-Wilkinson met with the senior Irish government figures in Iveagh House in Dublin for over an hour yesterday.

Prior to the meeting, Mr Gallagher said there was a “strong cross-border element” to the bombing, and that if an inquiry was not held in the Republic, he said it would be “like reading half a book”.

“Eighty per cent of the evidential opportunities lie within the Republic. I think the Irish government realise that they have a serious part to play in all of this. We’re looking forward to hearing what they have to say this afternoon,” he said.

John Fox, a solicitor for the Omagh families, said after the meeting that it had been “very positive”.

“It was reconfirmed by the Irish government that they are committed to co-operating with any forthcoming inquiry,” he said.

“They are going to take away from the meeting today to look at the mechanisms in which that co-operation can be placed, and once the terms of reference are known, they can then implement that mechanism and co-operate fully with us as the families to make sure that we get to truth and justice.”

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Martin said that when there was clarity on the UK inquiry, cabinet would consider the response Ireland would make.

He said it was important to hear from the families about how the Irish government could assist them.