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Irish Times
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Omagh bombing inquiry: Survivors and families seek representation at closed hearings
Survivors and families of those killed in the Omagh bomb have asked to be represented by a special advocate in closed hearings at the public inquiry. Omagh bombing inquiry chairman Lord Turnbull is hearing arguments around various applications during dedicated hearings this week. Paul Greaney KC, counsel to the inquiry, which is examining whether the 1998 dissident republican bomb attack could have been prevented, said it will hear some sensitive security evidence in closed hearings. A total of 31 people, including unborn twins, died and hundreds were injured when a car bomb planted by the dissident republican group the Real IRA exploded in the centre of the Co Tyrone town on August 15th, 1998. READ MORE Speaking during hearings in Belfast on Monday, Mr Greaney said the inquiry's legal team recognises that survivors and the bereaved have spent 25 seeking the truth. He said some may be 'suspicious or even cynical of the UK state's willingness to engage in a way that is straightforward and wholehearted with this inquiry'. 'We acknowledge too, that the idea of evidence being heard in circumstances in which the families and survivors will be excluded is one that they will find difficult to accept, to say the least, and accordingly, we regard it as entirely understandable that some, although not all, have suggested special advocates should be appointed to represent their interests in any closed hearings, and have made applications for that to occur,' he said. Mr Greaney last month said the inquiry would not begin examining the atrocity itself until next year due to the 'pace of disclosure'. He said chapter three of the inquiry, which 'will consider the bombing itself', would commence in March of next year. The inquiry, which opened last year, was ordered by the UK government in the wake of a court judgment to examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by British state authorities. During a four-week sitting in the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh earlier this year, the inquiry heard emotional testimony from bereaved relatives who delivered pen portraits of their loved ones, as well as from the injured and first responders. – PA
Irish Times
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Omagh Bombing Inqury: Survivors and families seek representation at closed hearings
Survivors and families of those killed in the Omagh bomb have asked to be represented by a special advocate in closed hearings at the public inquiry. Omagh bombing Inquiry chairman Lord Turnbull is hearing arguments around various applications during dedicated hearings this week. Paul Greaney KC, counsel to the inquiry, which is examining whether the 1998 dissident republican bomb attack could have been prevented, said it will hear some sensitive security evidence in closed hearings. A total of 31 people, including unborn twins, died and hundreds were injured when a car bomb planted by the dissident republican group the Real IRA exploded in the centre of the Co Tyrone town on August 15th, 1998. Speaking during hearings in Belfast on Monday, Mr Greaney said the inquiry's legal team recognises that survivors and the bereaved have spent 25 seeking the truth. He said some may be 'suspicious or even cynical of the UK state's willingness to engage in a way that is straightforward and wholehearted with this inquiry'. 'We acknowledge too, that the idea of evidence being heard in circumstances in which the families and survivors will be excluded is one that they will find difficult to accept, to say the least, and accordingly, we regard it as entirely understandable that some, although not all, have suggested special advocates should be appointed to represent their interests in any closed hearings, and have made applications for that to occur,' he said. Mr Greaney last month said the inquiry would not begin examining the atrocity itself until next year due to the 'pace of disclosure'. He said chapter three of the inquiry, which 'will consider the bombing itself', would commence in March of next year. The inquiry, which opened last year, was ordered by the UK government in the wake of a court judgment to examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by British state authorities. During a four-week sitting in the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh earlier this year, the inquiry heard emotional testimony from bereaved relatives who delivered pen portraits of their loved ones, as well as from the injured and first responders. – PA
