Names may be added to Omagh civil suit

LAWYERS for the relatives of those who died in the Omagh atrocity are reviewing evidence heard in the McKevitt trial before deciding whether to add more names to the €14m civil writ planned against those they claim planned the bombing.

As relatives and friends gather today for the fifth anniversary memorial service to the 29 dead, plus unborn twins, the father of a 12-year-old boy killed in the bombing warned lawyers will not hesitate to add more names, "whether they are from Real IRA, Continuity IRA or where ever".

Victor Barker, an English-based solicitor who lost his son James, said: "Certainly, if as a result of examining the evidence heard in the McKevitt trial, the lawyers decide there is enough information to add other names to the writ, they will do so."

During the trial, several people allegedly connected to the two dissident republican groups were named.

Main witness David Rupert also testified that Michael McKevitt, the Real IRA leader, told him that the Continuity IRA was 80% responsible for the disaster in Omagh.

While RIRA operatives made the bomb, the CIRA drove the car and parked it in Omagh town centre, McKevitt is reported to have said.

In a statement, the CIRA denied it co-operated with the other dissident group in carrying out the 1998 bombing. The CIRA said it "totally refutes" the claim that it was involved in the "tragic events at Omagh" and described the McKevitt case as a "political show trial in the Stalinist style".

"We wish to state that we played absolutely no part in the preparation or carrying out of this atrocity," the statement claimed, before adding that Mr Rupert was "paid millions" and that he was "prepared to do and say anything in an attempt to blacken the name of our organisation with the stain of Omagh".

Many of the relatives of those who died will gather at the memorial garden in Co Tyrone for the service. But some, like Mr Barker, will not. He will have a quiet family ceremony at his son's grave in the grounds of St George's College, in the English town of Weybridge.

Others believe that this fifth anniversary is a particularly significant one, and they are expected to use it to call for a full public inquiry into the events surrounding the bombing.

Relatives have described the last five years as an often frustrating battle for justice. Apart from a scathing report on the PSNI investigation into the bombing, both governments have been criticised for failing to support the relatives in their civil action against five individuals. While the British government is now giving €1.1 million towards the cost of the action, the Irish Government has been accused of not releasing documents and not encouraging witnesses particularly gardaí to make statements. Mr Barker also believes the Government could have made a gesture by providing trial transcripts for free.

Both Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were invited to the memorial service, but neither are able to attend. In response to criticism that the Government planned to send only a Foreign Affairs official to the service, a spokesman claimed yesterday it was always the intention to send a minister.

Minister of State Noel Ahern will attend, although the relatives had not been told this until yesterday evening.