No McKevitt release: victim’s father

Families of victims of the Omagh bombing have strongly criticised efforts by TDs to secure the release on humanitarian grounds of a Real IRA leader.

Michael McKevitt, 65, the only person convicted in the country of directing terrorism, has been returned recently to prison after extended temporary release following cancer surgery.

The Real IRA was behind the atrocity in Omagh in 1998, in which 29 people were killed, including a woman pregnant with twins. Five TDs — Éamon Ó Cuív, Fianna Fáil; and Independents Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, Maureen O’Sullivan and Thomas Pringle — wrote to Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald calling on her to extend McKevitt’s temporary release.

They said they were “very concerned” at conditions in Portlaoise Prison, claiming the high concentration of dirt and dust and lack of in-cell sanitation made it very unsuitable.

McKevitt was one of four people who were found liable by a Belfast court for the Omagh bombing in a civil action taken by relatives of the dead. He is serving a 20-year term for directing terrorism.

Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aidan was killed in Omagh, said the TDs were wrong and McKevitt should stay in prison.

“This man, while he has got a terrible illness and should be given every medical assistance he needs, I feel it’s wrong. The TDs should focus their attention more on the victims than on convicted terrorists. I think he should remain in custody. We get all this information through journalists. The official channels never contact the families,” he told RTÉ.

Mr Gallagher, who set up the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, said this was a very difficult issue for families who he said had not received any justice at all and only learned of the TDs lobbying from the media.

“The Garda, the Government, the Justice Department have never kept us up to date and this is quite extraordinary in such a significant case. I think victims have to come first here.”

“It would send the wrong message particularly in serious terrorist cases that people do need to serve the sentence that was handed down in a democratic country and to do otherwise is abandonment of victims,” he said.