Irish government 'engaged in sheer hypocrisy' by criticising UK given state's record on the IRA
The Irish government is guilty of "sheer hypocrisy" given its lack of action to "deliver for victims".
That was the message from one man who has been doubly bereaved by the IRA, as the Omagh bomb inquiry gets under way.
Rev Alan Irwin, an Anglican canon based at Colaghty Parish Church, lost both his uncle Fred and his father Thomas to IRA gunmen during the Troubles, and suspects there was cross-border planning involved.
Whilst the Dublin government has sent a representative up to the Omagh bomb hearings, he is sceptical that it really intends to comb over state's past when it comes to IRA operations south of the border.
It is no good "sending someone up to sit in a tribunal who's not actually going to give anything" of value to the proceedings, he said, adding that he fears Dublin wants to "jump over this wee hurdle now and keep going in the same vein... to promise everything and then ignore it at the end of the day".
"We can play to the gallery, as a lot of politicians do, and play to the victim – in the sense that they're going to actually do something," he said.
"But I think over the years we've seen they haven't done actually anything of any real significance."
He noted that the Dublin government is currently trying to take the London one to court, claiming that its Troubles amnesty lets down victims of the Troubles.
Rev Irwin said it should focus its efforts closer to home.
"There's just the sheer hypocrisy, when they're taking the UK government to an interstate case and they can't even hold their hand up and say 'look what we have actually done that has delivered for victims'," he said.
"If they are expecting the UK to open up their books, they need to open up their own books.
"They need to engage and set up parallel investigations – but they need to be open and transparent and need to be done in the public sphere, so we can see and know for certain they are doing something."