SAOIRSE32

Breaking News.ie
17/08/2008

A cross-border public inquiry is the only proper tribute to relatives bereaved by the Omagh bomb blast, a memorial service heard today.

The system has failed everyone and its leaders should hang their heads in shame because of the lack of progress, grieving father Michael Gallagher told mourners in the Co Tyrone town.

They had gathered to mark ten years since the Real IRA bombing, which killed 29 people and unborn twins in the single greatest atrocity of the conflict.

Mr Gallagher, whose son Aidan, 21, died, said: “The only proper tribute to Omagh’s dead, ten years on, must be that full cross-border public inquiry.

“We call on public figures to back our call, otherwise the system continues to fail everyone and should hold its head in shame.

“They will be judged not on their token gestures but on what they have or have not done to actually bring justice to Omagh, not wreathes.”

At a separate gathering in the Co Tyrone town on Friday, boycotted by some of the families present today, Irish prime minister Brian Cowen, Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward and Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness remembered the dead alongside thousands of others.

Mr McGuinness joined other political representatives in demanding an independent probe on Friday.

There are concerns about the alleged failure to follow up on warnings given before the deadly car bomb blast and the police’s handling of forensic evidence.

A civil legal case taken by the families and other legal matters are still active.

Families, including Mr Gallagher, were engaged in a dispute with Omagh District Council over the wording on memorials in the town unveiled on Friday.

This was the first ceremony in the new garden of remembrance close to the blast site and included several hundred people.

Mr Gallagher added: “Over the past ten years we have taken control of our own lives, we could not allow terrorists to dictate to us, we will continue to do what is right for us.”

Former Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Dame Nuala O’Loan was among those present. She penned a critical report on the police handling of the investigation.

There was an interdenominational service lasting around 30 minutes including prayers in Hebrew, Spanish and Irish.

Among the dead were schoolchildren from Buncrana, Co Donegal, in the Irish Republic and Spanish exchange students, shopping in the busy market town. The British, Irish and Spanish governments were represented today.

A minute’s silence in remembrance was held as well as a moving reading, “Do not stand by my grave and weep”, from Carol Radford, whose 16-year-old brother Alan was killed.

Relatives and well-wishers laid flowers, some breaking down in tears as memories flooded back.

A message from Terry Waite, the former Lebanon hostage, said they should consider creating a scholarship for students wanting to undertake peace studies or work with the UN.

He could not be present because he was meeting former Japanese prisoners of war.

“If I was with you today I would ask you to do one thing and that is to look to the future, a new generation is growing up in Omagh and it is to them that we should be looking,” he added.

“Static memorials have their place but living memorials have tremendous value.”

By Gail Edgar
Sunday Life
17 August 2008

The father of Lorraine Wilson, the 15-year-old who was killed in the Omagh bomb, has said that every day feels like August 15, 1998.

Following the tenth anniversary of the atrocity, Godfrey Wilson spoke to Sunday Life of the devastating effect the terrorist attack has had on his family.

Godfrey Wilson father of the 1998 Omagh Bomb Victim Lorraine Wilson.

“Any one of us can have a terrible day of trauma but since that day, every day for us is August 15,” he explained.

Godfrey said he has only good memories of his daughter — but that sometimes makes life harder to bear.

“They will never be repeated,” he explained.

“You have your memories and you think of what should have been and what actually is — you have to accept what happened and come to terms with it.”

It was Lorraine’s dream to become an air hostess and this ambition is something Godfrey often thinks about.

“It does hurt me to go on flights and see an air hostess walking down the aisle. Lorraine could have been on a flight we were travelling on.”

Lorraine’s absence is felt at every special family occasion and Godfrey is aware of the milestones she’s missed.

He said: “It’s other things too — having a family, passing her driving test, Christmas presents, all these issues — it’s ongoing. My eldest daughter Denise got married and Lorraine wasn’t here to be her bridesmaid.

“We have a granddaughter now and Lorraine’s not here to greet her. We have all these things to deal with.”

Every member of the Wilson family has struggled to cope.

“My wife Ann would stand in the corner not speaking and I couldn’t stop crying. I had ulcers in my eyes.

“My son attempted suicide and my daughter contemplated suicide.”

Godfrey admits he also wanted to die to escape the pain.

“I drove round country roads at high speed but I realised the hurt it would have caused my family. You’re broken and you want to get away from the pain. Your head is in a state of turmoil and shock.”

While Godfrey and his family are trying to get on with their lives, they still have days when the grief is almost too much to bear.

“You still get days of desperation and you feel loneliness which does drag you down,” he said.

The memory of seeing his daughter for the last time is something which will never leave Godfrey.

“I can still see her laid out with the water running from her clothes and her face full of shrapnel. The shock of that, when your eyes have seen something like that, the picture never goes away.

“It brings tears to my eyes to talk about this situation, but I feel the world has to know what terrorism can do to people.”

“The people in power can’t get the people who did this and that’s hurtful. The only thing I want and my family wants is justice.”

Godfrey’s comments were echoed by Lawrence Rush, whose wife Libby died in the bomb.

He said he will never be able to close the door on what happened on August 15, 1998.

Lawrence said the decision to place the permanent memorial so close to the site of his wife’s shop was extremely hurtful.

“The fact that I was not asked for my opinion has caused me a great deal of pain and hurt.

“I don’t pass my wife’s shop and my family don’t pass it. This is not closure — it’s confrontation.

“It’s 15 feet away from the shop and I don’t know why this wasn’t thought out. That’s the spot where people fell and died and were hurt. And I include those people who were traumatised.”

Lawrence added that he hasn’t placed a monument to his wife on her grave.

“I still don’t have a monument on her grave. I already have her monuments. They are our two children, our grandchildren and our great grandchildren.

“My wife was a very serene woman. She was a very good wife and mother and the sad thing is she would have made a great grandmother.

“That’s the problem — she was never allowed that chance.”

Lawrence said his health has not been good in the last 10 years due to the stress of what he has experienced.

“I’ve broken my health but that’s of no importance as you get older. It’s Libby that I’m worried about.

“You can’t get closure. If she had died by God’s hands, that would have been different. But someone took her right to life.

“I’m sure that in the future we will get justice of some sort. I’m very, very determined.”