20th anniversary of Omagh bombing should be last annual memorial, say organisers

The annual routine of public memorials to the Omagh bomb tragedy should end after this year, organisers said.

20th anniversary of Omagh bombing should be last annual memorial, say organisers

The annual routine of public memorials to the Omagh bomb tragedy should end after this year, organisers said.

Relatives, friends and townsfolk will continue to remember the horrific events of August 1998 in which 29 people died from a Real IRA car bomb.

But the bereaved said now was the time to call a halt to annual commemorations.

The Omagh Support and Self-Help Group said: "The 20th anniversary is a milestone for those closely affected as well as the wider community who were moved by this horrific event.

"There is a sense that this point in time offers an opportunity to start to dissolve and disperse the routine of the memorial."

A series of other dates during the Troubles continue to be marked annually, including the Clonoe shooting dead of four IRA men by the SAS and the Kingsmill massacre of 10 Protestant workmen by republicans.

For years every August family and friends of the victims have gathered at a memorial in Omagh, Co Tyrone, near where a car bomb exploded and caused devastation to dozens of innocent shoppers, workers and holidaymakers.

After this year, the events may only be held at intervals like a 25th or 30th anniversary, organisers said.

"The intention of this phase associated with the 20th anniversary, is to allow creative processes to bring transitional steps beyond the existing format of the annual anniversary services, so that remembering in the future, will not be formalised and therefore private."

A book about the tragedy said many who did not live in Omagh remembered where they were when they heard the news.

In a statement the organisers said: "The impact of the sound of the bomb touched near and far: physically as well as the news of the bomb.

"One contributor in those conversations described the town as a 'running sore' and this still is likely to be the case as generations are impacted by such terror.

"The town still has a desperate need to be soothed."

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

Events marking 20 years since the Omagh bomb will be a "fitting tribute" to victims throughout the Troubles, organisers have said.

The Irish Government is funding a special series of commemoration projects ahead of this summer's anniversary. A cash injection worth €18,000 (£16,000) will help pay for remembrance works like art and music.

The Real IRA dissident republican blast killed 29 in the busy Co Tyrone market town. Nobody was convicted of murder despite extensive police investigations.

Cat Wilkinson, whose brother Aiden Gallagher, 21, died in the August 1998 explosion, said she was grateful for the extra money.

"It will help the families who will be thinking and reflecting back over the last 20 years.

"It gives them something to focus positively on and really connect with the rest of the community."

The Omagh bombing inflicted the greatest loss of life of any terror atrocity in the history of the Northern Ireland Troubles and came just months after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

The dead came from both sides of the Irish border, England and Spain. One of the victims was pregnant with twins.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade funding has been allocated to the Omagh Support and Self-Help Group, run by and for the bereaved and offering services like welfare and complementary therapies.

Bags of wildflower seeds will be decorated with paintings and words themed around Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney's line "Believe that a farther shore is reachable from here".

They will be put together as an installation by artist Carole Kane in a throwback to events of the time when floral works made from masses of wreaths received from around the world were presented to the bereaved families.

At the anniversary event, the bags of seeds will be distributed for scattering later, in some cases around the world at the scene of other atrocities.

A newly-composed music piece will be performed by Omagh Community Youth Choir.

Ms Wilkinson urged the local and wider community to get involved, since the whole community was affected by what was a "brutal and callous" attack on civil society.

"The families of Omagh felt enormous support worldwide which gave them the courage, strength and hope to face the difficult journey ahead," she said.

"We would hope that this project would be a fitting tribute to the victims, survivors, witnesses, first responders and civic and religious leaders who have not only been affected by this atrocity but throughout the history of the Troubles."

Omagh District Council is also organising a series of memorial events.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said: "Support for this vital reconciliation work is an important expression of the Government's unwavering commitment to peace and reconciliation on this island as a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement."

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