Simon Harris

Scottish judge Lord Turnbull is chairing the statutory inquiry into the preventability of the 1998 bombing, which was orchestrated by the Real IRA and led to the deaths of 29 people and two unborn children as well as injuries to 220 people.

The inquiry was ordered following a 2021 ruling by Northern Ireland’s High Court which found there was a “plausible case… that the authorities knew the identities of many of those committed to and involved in this violent insurrection against the Northern Ireland state and arguably could have done more to disrupt their activities”.

The court suggested a simultaneous investigation should take place south of the border, though the outgoing and incoming Irish governments have so far resisted these calls.

Tánaiste Simon Harris, who was in Belfast today to meet Northern Ireland’s political leaders, said: “Everybody in Ireland remembers the horror of that sunny August afternoon in Omagh and today will be another stark reminder of the pain and suffering caused to so many families as the commemorative hearings begin.

“Testimony over the coming weeks will be difficult, especially for those who lost loved ones, and for those who responded first as the news broke.

“But it is important to remind ourselves of the full horror of that brutal attack, to remind ourselves of the purpose of this inquiry.”

He added: “When I was Taoiseach, the government took a clear decision to assist the Omagh inquiry. That commitment was made clear, publicly, at the preliminary hearing last August.

“The programme for government repeats that commitment in no uncertain terms, stating plainly that we will ‘play our full part in legacy processes…including facilitating and supporting the Omagh Inquiry’.

“The cross-border nature of the assistance, to an inquiry established under UK law, means that it takes some work to get the details of the mechanisms of co-operation right, but we are actively engaging in this work and we will not be found wanting.”