UK official had concerns about Mary McAleese being at Omagh event without Queen Elizabeth

Then president Mary McAleese and taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Omagh, Co Tyrone, at a remembrance ceremony in 1998 for the victims of the car bombing. File picture: Peter Murphy/PA Wire

A British government official tried to stop President Mary McAleese attending a memorial service for the victims of the Omagh bombing in 1998 as Queen Elizabeth II was not attending.

Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, were killed when a car bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone town in 1998.

It was the worst loss of life in a single incident in Northern Ireland’s troubled past, and came just months after the historic Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

A memorial service in honour of the victims was planned a week after the bombing.

On August 21 1998, the day before the event, Irish Embassy official Philip McDonagh was called to the British foreign office to discuss the attendance of then taoiseach Bertie Ahern and then president Mary McAleese.

A note sent from the London embassy to the Department of Foreign Affairs suggested that George Fergusson, the head of the Ireland department within the UK’s foreign office, had gently encouraged the country not to send such senior representatives to the ceremony.

He suggested that a formal memorial service would be announced “within less than 24 hours” that would be attended by the British monarch and then-UK prime minister Tony Blair, which would allow the taoiseach and president to withdraw from the first event despite having confirmed their attendance.

Mr Fergusson appeared to suggest that locals were against “high level” attendance at the memorial.

Mr McDonagh replied that based on soundings they had taken, the “contrary” was the case, and said that Mr Ahern’s and Mrs McAleese’s plans had already been announced, and “substantive” meetings were likely to take place around the visit.

Mr Fergusson then said that Mr Blair and Queen Elizabeth could face “embarrassment” by not attending, to which Mr McDonagh replied they had received “nothing but praise for their gestures of sympathy”.

He added that he could not see British figures “attracting criticism on grounds of protocol”.

Mr Fergusson then admitted he was more concerned about Queen Elizabeth's absence rather than Mr Blair's.

He said it was not practical to send a senior royal to Omagh as it could “detract from the ceremony itself”, and said if a “less prominent member” were sent it could appear “inadequate if President McAleese is present”.

He suggested a “compromise”, where Mr Ahern would attend but Mrs McAleese would not, to which Mr McDonagh said he was “uncomfortable” with the use of the word “compromise in a matter of this kind”, which Mr Fergusson accepted.

In a comment on the correspondence sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr McDonagh added that he felt Mr Fergusson implied that the taoiseach’s attendance was “in some sense in the gift of the British government”.

Mr McDonagh said that he was “deliberately not taking this point”.

Mrs McAleese and Mr Ahern attended the memorial service the following day.