A man whose son was killed in the 1998 Omagh Bombing has warned the Irish government to fully cooperate with a public inquiry into the attack - or he will take them to court.

The inquiry is probing whether the 1998 atrocity could have been prevented.

Hearings will take place at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh from tomorrow for four weeks.

The bombers killed 31 people and injured scores of others in the Real IRA atrocity.

placeholder image — The scene of devastation in Omagh town centre only hours after 31 people were killed in the blast. Photo: Pacemaker

It is reported the bomb was prepared in the Republic of Ireland and that the bombers fled back there after planting it.

In 2021 the High Court recommended that the UK and Irish governments carry out inquiries into whether the bombing could have been prevented. The UK initially refused but gave in after a legal challenge by Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the bombing.

The Irish government later refused, but said it would cooperate with the NI inquiry.

Mr Gallagher told the News Letter last night: "I hope and pray the Omagh inquiry team and its chairman Lord Turnbull can get the Irish government to cooperate in the way that they need to with this inquiry. We need no hold back in this investigation."

He is holding the Irish government to the same standard he expects of the British government, he said."They need to put the books on the table 26 years after the event and cooperate."

And if the Irish government don't do it I will do exactly what I did to the British government - I will take them to court too."

Mr Gallagher took the UK government to court to secure the inquiry after it initially refused.

In 2023 the Secretary of State announced that a public inquiry would be held.

Soon after, a solicitor acting for some of the Omagh families labelled the Irish government "disrespectful" for ignoring the High Court call for a public inquiry in the south also.

The Irish authorities have since said they will fully cooperate with the Northern Ireland inquiry - but affirmed they will not be holding their own.

However Mr Gallagher has now fired a warning shot across the bows of Dublin.

He told the News Letter it took the Irish government over 40 years to hold an inquest into the Stardust nightclub fire in 1981 which saw 48 young people killed.

He also noted that the families of the 1975 Dublin Monaghan in which loyalists killed 33 people are still pressing their government to open the files on the attacks.

Last year Mr Gallagher said it would be “a scandal” if the Irish Government gagged him from disclosing information it might give the inquiry – as it did with Kingsmills Massacre victims.

In 1976 the IRA gunned down ten Protestants at Kingsmills in south Armagh which was also executed from the Republic of Ireland.

After almost a decade of unrelenting pressure for answers, the Irish government held a secret court hearing in Dublin last year to answer questions from Kingsmills families.

However, neither families nor their lawyers were allowed to attend, and they were also legally gagged from speaking about what was contained in a report of the hearing given to them.

Mr Gallagher said: "It was shameful because this is the government that holds the British government to account on every occasion.”