Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has vowed the Irish Government will cooperate with their British counterparts in their inquiry into the ‘barbarous” Omagh Bombing.
The UK Government ordered an independent inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing earlier today.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris made a Commons statement today confirming he intends to establish the inquiry in response to a court judgement that directed the Government to establish some form of investigation.
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Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died in the Real IRA bombing, took the legal challenge that resulted in the judge directing the state to act.
The dissident republican bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone town on August 15, 1998, killing 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins. Hundreds more were injured.
The inquiry has been welcomed by the Irish Government, with the Taoiseach, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Justice Minister Simon Harris all pledging Irish support.
Mr Varadkar said that the Irish Government would make sure that any aspect of the Omagh Bombing that happened on the Republic of Ireland’s side of the border would be fully investigated.
“It was an act of barbarous inhumanity and I remember it well.
"It's important that those families who are still suffering today get the truth and answers that they need and they deserve.
“We want to find out what happened and whether it could have been prevented. It's important to know those things.
“We're also very aware that there was probably a cross-border element to this terrible crime and we're going to sit down with the UK authorities and work at how we can contribute to that.”
Mr Martin described the Omagh Bombing as a “heinous attack” that was “carried out by people with no respect for the lives of others or for democracy on this island”.
The Foreign Affairs Minister said: “We now await further detail from the UK Government, in particular on the Terms of Reference for their inquiry.
“I look forward to receiving that detail and then consulting with my Cabinet colleagues, in particular the Minister for Justice, about the next steps.”
Minister Harris, meanwhile, said that the Omagh Bombing was an “unspeakable and brutal act of cruelty”.
“The terrorists who carried it out had simply no sense of humanity and they displayed a complete and shocking disregard for life itself. It is they who carry responsibility for this brutal act.”
The families of those killed during the bombing also welcomed the inquiry.
Aiden Gallagher’s father Michael said that it would take a “long time to come to terms with the fact that we're going to hopefully get the answers that we need and we can move on”.
“This is not a case of deflecting the blame from those who are responsible - that was the criminal terrorists who planned, prepared and delivered this bomb into Omagh. What we're looking at is the failings of the people that are there to protect us.”
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