Mick Clifford: No room for closure when history is rewritten

Between them, the Republican movement and the British state are determined that there will not be a full reckoning with the past

Police officers and firefighters inspecting the damage caused by a bomb in Market Street, Omagh. 

Patricia McLaughlin watched the children getting off the bus. They were returning to Buncrana, Co Donegal, after an excursion to a folk park in Omagh. Earlier that day, a bomb ripped through the centre of the Co Tyrone town. Mrs McLaughlin was willing that her 12-year-old son, Shaun, would be one of those coming home to their families. He wasn’t. He and two other local boys, James Barker, aged 12, and 8-year-old Oran Doherty died in the explosion.

Two Spaniards who had been staying in Buncrana and were on the trip didn’t come home either. Rocio Abad Ramos, aged 23, Fernando Blasco Baselga, aged 12, were also among the 29 who were killed that day.