Omagh bomb inquiry: Donegal lad Shaun McLaughlin's peace poem read by Irish President only months before his murder

The Omagh Bombing Inquiry is currently examining whether the worst atrocity of the Troubles could have been prevented.

Twenty-nine people, including a woman expecting twins, were murdered in the Real IRA attack on 15 August 1998.

Shaun McLaughlin's mother Patricia prepared a statement for the inquiry which was read by her sister, Majorie McDade.

Among the striking facts told by Patricia, she said the funeral for her son, shared with two other victims, was a "total farce" because while seats were reserved for all the politicians who attended,

There were none reserved for any of the three families.

She also told how Shaun's brother, Christopher, could never return to the bedroom they shared, and that he suffered debilitating nightmares for months afterwards. His sister, Elaine, also suffered emotionally due to trauma.

The Buncrana woman paid tribute to thousands of people who lined the streets as they left for Omagh and also welcomed his remains home.

Although he was severely disfigured, against advice, she insisted that Shaun have an open coffin.

His own father was only able to identify him by his watch.

She said mourners queued around the block day and night to pay their respects to her after the death of his first born son.

Patricia said: "None of the families deserve what happened that day, but how each of us, in our own way, have had to fight for answers is just awful, it makes me angry.

"I hope that this inquiry will provide the answers as to what happened that day, and hopefully that the cost of Sean's life and all those other lives so tragically lost, can provide some hope for us all.

"We have not gotten over things completely. We never will, but we have learned to live with it. Some days are, of course, harder than others.

"My first born baby will always be in our minds and in our hearts.

SHAUN’S PEACE POEM

"Sean personified the hope on this island following the Good Friday Agreement, the hope of peace.

"Only a few months before the bomb, Sean had written a poem which he presented to the then president of Ireland, Mary McAleese."

The poem read:

Orange and green, it doesn't matter,

United now, don't shatter our dream.

Scatter the seeds of peace over our land

So we can travel hand in hand across the bridge of hope.

The inquiry also took in a presentation of the poem set to music and sung by the Omagh cross community choir.

‘TOTAL FARCE AT FUNERAL’

"I felt as though the funeral had been a total farce," Patricia added in her statement. "There were too many important people there from the political parties.

"They all even had reserved seats, but there was no reserved seats for the three families who were burying their children. Two of my brothers even had to ask people to move out of a seat so that we could sit down. My son was buried before I could even get near his grave."

Initially she heard reports about a bus being caught up in the bombing but it did not initially register that her son was on it.

He had been on a school trip to Omagh.

As the day progressed she initially assumed Shaun would be fine, despite the scale of the atrocity.

But as the calls from the RUC got closer and closer, asking about his identifying features, she began to worry.

Just before a bus arrived back at 9pm with other school children from the trip she began to feel he wasn't coming home.

"I sat and watched all the other children coming off the bus, but Shaun never got off the bus."

THOUSANDS LINED STREETS

Up to 40 cars went in procession to collect his remains from Omagh several days later.

She had been distressed that he would be left alone for several days in the hospital.

Due to extra work required to make him as presentable as possible for the open coffin, they left in the early house of Tuesday morning.

She said the crowds of people who waited to honour them as they left were "unbelievable" also noting that they had been waiting many hours in position.

Crowds turned out to pay their respects all the way home to Buncrana.

"From when we left through all the towns, it was on both sides of the street, and those people must have been waiting a long time, because we left much later than we were due to leave, but they were still standing.

"And when we got to the bottom of the town of Buncrana, there were thousands stood by the side of the road.

"The people visiting our house queued right down the road, around the corner, and two lines all day and all night. That never stopped."

She added: "If somebody had said to me before I lost a child that you will feel exactly the same 26 years later, I wouldn't have believed them.

"I would have thought [for] maybe a couple of years, that you will be broken hearted, but that you would still move on, it's going to have to ease. But it just doesn't."