Poppy Day Bomb families in '˜united' appeal to Catholic church

Twelve people, including three couples, died as a result of the IRA attack on the Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen in 1987 and over 60 were seriously injured.

The families expressed distress on the 30th anniversary of the bombing in November, when the Catholic body which owns the site - St Michael’s Diocesan Trust - refused to allow the memorial to remain in place after the commemoration service.

The families had no choice but to put the memorial into storage while the church reflected on their request, claiming there had been inadequate consultation.

In early May the church made headlines when it issued a public statement to declare its decision, without having met the families. At that time it refused permission for the memorial, which had been given full planning permission, citing “insurmountable” access problems to their property, “visual and aesthetic” considerations and maintenance issues.

Stephen Gault, whose father Samuel was killed, said: “All the families got together, each and every family of the bereaved and severely injured were asked what they felt about the memorial, and at that time there was no unease or unrest among the families.

“This memorial was designed by each of the families, who came to an agreement of the best way forward to remember our loved ones who were brutally murdered at the hands of the IRA. At no point was there any disapproval from a family member regards to design or location.”

Joan Wilson, whose daughter Marie was killed, confirmed the families agreed on the design and location.

“I wasn’t very well and was not able to attend the meetings but they agreed; I was happy with all their decisions,” she said.

Lee McDowell, director of victims’ group The Ely Centre, said that while it lodged the planning application on behalf of the families it had merely facilitated their express wishes. “The location of the Clinton Centre was chosen as an outcome of a feasibility study conducted in 2014 by consultants and the location was identified as the preferred location by the families,” he said. “To our knowledge all the families were consulted.”

“Various design options were given - modern, sculpture, natural elements. but the traditional aesthetic low maintenance and relatively lower cost of a traditional memorial was chosen by them”.

The News Letter has been able to speak to nine of the ten families this week to verify Mr McDowell’s comments. They appeared to confirm that there had been unanimous agreement in their design and location choice. Visiting Enniskillen this week to meet some of them, it became apparent that there is a strong feeling that memorialisation so far has been done ‘to them’ rather than ‘with them’.

In over 30 years since the bomb, there has never been any memorial on the bomb site to the 12 people killed, they pointed out.

Twelves doves and two plaques with the names of the deceased were added to the war memorial - itself a traffic island near the bomb site. But some relatives say they were never consulted; anyone wishing to read the names has to kneel down in the midst of oncoming traffic to do so.

Mr Gault said: “To have their names on the war memorial plays into the republican narrative that they were ‘war dead’. They weren’t. It was an act of terrorism.”

Originally, relatives said they were promised a remembrance garden on the bomb site. However, they said the plans changed without notice to ‘The Clinton Centre’ in honour of Bill Clinton.

Aileen Quinton, whose mother Alberta was killed, is annoyed it honoured Clinton without any reference to their loved ones. “We were not consulted” she said.

Ruth Blair, whose parents William and Agnes Mullan were killed, added: “The Clinton Centre was a white Elephant. What was it for? Why couldn’t we have had something incorporated in the wall when it was built?” When it was opened in 2002 the families were “kind of lost souls” and just accepted it, she added.

A number of relatives were hurt by those now questioning why their memorial features a poppy. Stella Robinson, whose parents Wesley and Bertha Armstrong were killed, replied: “Why not a poppy? It all happened on Remembrance Sunday.”

Mr Gault says they had informal conversations with trust chair Monsignor O’Reilly early last year, with “very positive” feedback. The families’ architect also sent him official planning documents. However the trust - managed by 14 clerics - says no formal consultation took place and that it received no documents.

Mrs Wilson, widow of the late Gordon, added: “I want to see a peaceful resolution completed and one that all the families will agree on. And the good work that has been done for 30 years [in community relations] must not be undone.”

‘WHY HAVE A POPPY ON IT?’

Former editor of Enniskillen’s Impartial Reporter, Denzil McDaniel, asked in a recent column why the families’ memorial features a poppy.

He added that some of the relatives are “uneasy about the nature of the memorial” and that another unconnected IRA victim said it was “like a tombstone”.

“When it comes to the subject of victims and how we treat victims I think we only hear certain voices...,” he told BBC Talkback.

“I am disagreeing here with the stance that this memorial should be put on the wall [outside the Clinton Centre]. I am agreeing with the Catholic church because I have thought it through...It is very difficult for people to stand up and say [to victims], no I disagree with you, you are wrong.”

CHURCH AGREES TO FIRST MEETING WITH FAMILIES

The Catholic Church says it is hopeful that “all matters” of dispute relating to the Enniskillen memorial can be resolved in dialogue.

It is understood that representatives of the Catholic St Michael’s Trust, which owns the land, will meet with the families and their representatives, and the Ely Centre, at the end of the this month. Also present will be current tenants of the bomb site, Fermanagh University Partnership Board, and council representatives. A trust spokesman told the News Letter: “We are hopeful that all matters can be resolved through dialogue at local level in Enniskillen. We do not feel that conducting discussions through the media is helpful at this time.”

Last week Sharon Harrington-Gault, whose father-in-law was killed in the bomb, said she feared the Clinton Centre, which was built on the bomb site, will soon contain a private memorial which will include terrorists — something the trust strenuously denied. She was speaking after the trust said that a new memorial to victims is to be built inside the centre — although the families’ firm preference is for a public memorial.

She wrote to the Clinton Foundation earlier this year asking if they were planning a memorial “where the innocent victims’ names are displayed alongside the perpetrators?” but says she never got a reply.

Recent comments by chairman of the trust, Monsignor Peter O’Reilly, heightened her fears. Asked by the BBC if he would commit to work with the families about locating their own memorial on the trust’s grounds, he replied that “all of the victims have to be involved” and that it “has to be something that involves the general public”. Another factor was “the whole business of memorialisation that affects Northern Ireland” he said.

However the trust insisted that the redeveloped centre “will include a memorial to the victims of the Enniskillen bombing”.

‘SCALE AND FOOTPRINT OF MEMORIAL TOO LARGE’

St Michael’s Diocesan trust says it had not been aware of the “scale and footprint” of the families’ memorial until its unveiling in November 2017. As such it would pose “significant and insurmountable problems” in terms of access to the trust’s property, it said.

However Ruth Blair, whose parents were killed in the bomb, took a different view.

Speaking at the site [see video at top of page], she said: “Its removed from the footpath, it is well back, I can’t see anybody tripping over it here. It is a compromise...There is plenty of room.”

Margaret Veitch, whose parents were also killed, added: “The Catholic church has said ‘no’ to a memorial for innocents, when it seems quite happy to have terrorism celebrated on gravestones in their graveyards across Northern Ireland.”