Omagh bomb controversy: Michael Gallagher would ‘welcome opportunity’ to address councillors

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in the 1998 atrocity, has been invited to Derry City and Strabane district council by DUP councillor Graham Warke after the independent councillor Gary Donnelly said he would bring a motion opposing Campbell’s extradition forward at a meeting on Thursday.

Campbell was found liable for the Omagh bomb in a civil court.

A similar motion was passed at Fermanagh and Omagh Council last week.

It passed with the backing of both Sinn Fein and the SDLP, but the SDLP later apologised for the “pain and hurt” caused to Omagh bomb families and vowed to overturn the decision when the motion goes before a full meeting of the council for ratification.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has also signalled that councillors from his party in Derry City and Strabane will vote against Mr Donnelly’s proposal on Thursday.

Mr Gallagher, speaking to the News Letter, said: “If I am allowed to I would welcome the opportunity to share my thoughts on what has happened over the past few weeks regarding Liam Campbell, absolutely.

“I am due to meet with Graham Warke about this on either Monday or Tuesday.”

Last week, Mr Gallagher said it was “very depressing that anyone would want to align themselves” with Liam Campbell.

Asked to respond, Mr Donnelly told the News Letter: “This is about human rights. It is not about aligning with anyone and it is not about causing hurt.”

Yesterday, Mr Gallagher said: “I feel that is a very weak argument. We are all concerned about human rights.

“These people, they will always try and justify what they do. It doesn’t sit right when you have the human rights of the 31 people who were killed and the many people who were seriously injured, some of them losing limbs and some of them still psychologically damaged to this day in the Omagh bombing.”