Irish Examiner view: Families deserve resolution in Omagh inquiry

Although it is 26 years since the bombing occurred, the horror of that event has not faded and some of the memories of the day persist still

Omagh bomb campaigners Michael Gallagher, left, and Stanley McCombe at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh, where chairman Andrew Turnbull is convening the first public hearing into the Omagh bomb attack. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA

The first public hearing of the Omagh inquiry was held yesterday, when the names of all of those killed in the bombing of the Tyrone town in 1998 were read out during proceedings. People in the hearing room stood for a minute’s silence in their memory.

The Omagh bombing claimed 29 lives, including a woman who was pregnant with twins. Families and survivors gathered at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh for the first hearing in the inquiry, which has been set up to examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by British authorities.