So said a British judge today. The implications of his finding are tremendous and far reaching. One of the Omagh campaigners who lost his young son said today that it is something he does not even want to think about.
I remember the day well. My future wife and I were driving to Bundoran for a weekend break. She enjoys music and was listening to the car radio when the news began to break.
What I recall clearly was the serious tone of the reporter warning of a substantial explosion in Omagh, a predominantly nationalist town, and of multiple casualties. While driving, I asked my partner to flick through the stations as I was gripped by a horrible feeling of an unfolding disaster. This news story would not finish well.
When we arrived at our destination, I stopped at a well known republican bar in the main street. Already a crowd had gathered and there was a buzz about the place. People were engaging in quiet albeit intense conversation about what had happened in Omagh.
We sat for a few hours as more details came in pointing to the prospect of countless fatalities. As time passed the number of deaths accumulated at an alarming rate. I felt we were looking at unprecedented event in our violent history.
I could not fathom how something like this could happen in Omagh of all places. It did not make sense on any level. As to who was responsible, I had no idea. Sinn Fein could definitely be ruled out, which left so-called dissident groups as the prime suspects. I remember thinking this was a very bad day for Republicanism whoever was responsible.
In the coming days, weeks and months a witch-hunt began for "the monsters" in our midst. The media began to knock on doors, and sources were trawled for leads as to the identities of the bombers.
As the media was shaking the apple tree, the security services on both sides of the border were leaking names and pointing the finger in certain directions. This was undoubtedly the first stages in a massive cover up by both sides. Felon setting became the order of the day.
The official narrative was that Republicans had scored a massive own goal from which they would never recover. Omagh would put paid to any hopes some Republicans held for a resumption of the armed struggle.
Such logic was utterly convincing at the time, but as the years passed, and questions started to be asked how this could this have happened at all, doubts took hold in some people’s minds about what exactly was being done by the security services at the time of the bombing.
What did the security services know about the operation, and about those who carried it out? Surely now, with the Provisional IRA out of the equation, the security services in both jurisdictions were in a position to concentrate their combined resources on dissident groups, namely the CIRA and RIRA.
What was known about them? And how were they able to bomb Omagh under the security radar?
Question were asked but no answers were forthcoming from the agencies tasked with protecting the public. Something smelt fishy, and it was not Raffo’s.
Eventually, a number of Republicans were arrested and attempts made to bring them before the courts. This story is well known from the extensive public record on these cases. The upshot of it all was that no one was ever prosecuted in a criminal court for the Omagh bombing. Although four men were found to be liable for the attack in a landmark Civil case taken the the victim’s families.
And still, questions about the security services stubbornly refused to go away. Would there ever be a day of reckoning?
Today, we got a part of the answer.
I remember the day well. My future wife and I were driving to Bundoran for a weekend break. She enjoys music and was listening to the car radio when the news began to break.
What I recall clearly was the serious tone of the reporter warning of a substantial explosion in Omagh, a predominantly nationalist town, and of multiple casualties. While driving, I asked my partner to flick through the stations as I was gripped by a horrible feeling of an unfolding disaster. This news story would not finish well.
When we arrived at our destination, I stopped at a well known republican bar in the main street. Already a crowd had gathered and there was a buzz about the place. People were engaging in quiet albeit intense conversation about what had happened in Omagh.
We sat for a few hours as more details came in pointing to the prospect of countless fatalities. As time passed the number of deaths accumulated at an alarming rate. I felt we were looking at unprecedented event in our violent history.
I could not fathom how something like this could happen in Omagh of all places. It did not make sense on any level. As to who was responsible, I had no idea. Sinn Fein could definitely be ruled out, which left so-called dissident groups as the prime suspects. I remember thinking this was a very bad day for Republicanism whoever was responsible.
In the coming days, weeks and months a witch-hunt began for "the monsters" in our midst. The media began to knock on doors, and sources were trawled for leads as to the identities of the bombers.
As the media was shaking the apple tree, the security services on both sides of the border were leaking names and pointing the finger in certain directions. This was undoubtedly the first stages in a massive cover up by both sides. Felon setting became the order of the day.
The official narrative was that Republicans had scored a massive own goal from which they would never recover. Omagh would put paid to any hopes some Republicans held for a resumption of the armed struggle.
Such logic was utterly convincing at the time, but as the years passed, and questions started to be asked how this could this have happened at all, doubts took hold in some people’s minds about what exactly was being done by the security services at the time of the bombing.
What did the security services know about the operation, and about those who carried it out? Surely now, with the Provisional IRA out of the equation, the security services in both jurisdictions were in a position to concentrate their combined resources on dissident groups, namely the CIRA and RIRA.
What was known about them? And how were they able to bomb Omagh under the security radar?
Question were asked but no answers were forthcoming from the agencies tasked with protecting the public. Something smelt fishy, and it was not Raffo’s.
Eventually, a number of Republicans were arrested and attempts made to bring them before the courts. This story is well known from the extensive public record on these cases. The upshot of it all was that no one was ever prosecuted in a criminal court for the Omagh bombing. Although four men were found to be liable for the attack in a landmark Civil case taken the the victim’s families.
And still, questions about the security services stubbornly refused to go away. Would there ever be a day of reckoning?
Today, we got a part of the answer.
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| Alec McCrory is a former blanketman. |
