Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 June 2014
87. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide an update on the report submitted to her predecessor by the Omagh victim support group; if she will agree to meet representatives of the group; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26689/14]
View answerThe bombing at Omagh in August 1998 was a contemptible act of terrorism that stands out in the minds of all right-thinking people as among the worst atrocities ever committed on this island. Those who carried it out displayed contempt for life itself and inflicted unutterable grief on those whose lives were brutalised by their actions.
My predecessor met with members of the Omagh Support and Self-Help Group in July 2012, where they raised issues of concern with regard to events surrounding the bombing and presented a copy of a document setting out these concerns in support of its call for a public inquiry. A detailed consideration of the matters raised, insofar as they relate to this State and the Garda Síochána, had been carried out and was being finalised earlier this year. Given the detailed and sensitive nature of the material in the document it required some time for those matters to be given proper consideration.
However, in April of this year a man was arrested in Northern Ireland and has been charged with the 29 murders caused by the bomb at Omagh. In these circumstances, it was considered appropriate and the safest course of action to postpone finalising consideration of the matters raised by the Omagh Group until the completion of the prosecution process in Northern Ireland. This position has been communicated directly to the Omagh Group. In our shared desire for those who carried out the atrocity at Omagh to face justice I believe we must all seek to ensure we do not do or say anything that could in any way be interpreted to interfere with that process. I fully understand that the Group wishes to receive a response to its concerns and I am anxious to ensure that will take place as soon as is prudent.
