Why is the Irish government not having a parallel inquiry into Omagh bombing?

political analyst

https://www.rte.ie/news/ulster/2025/0226/1498950-omagh-bombing-inquiry/

Justice minister Jim O'Callaghan said he had concerns about holding a parallel inquiry in the Republic into the Omagh bombing.

Regardless of the memorandum of understanding that the Irish govt will have with the inquiry in Northern Ireland, the fact remains that, obviously, the skepticism about the govt's willingness to reveal what it knows about the bombing remains.

If the govt has nothing to hide then why won't it hold a statutory inquiry?

beachhead

No consequential inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings so why would they do it for Omagh.It would expose too many people.I would expect the irish government knows as much about Omagh as it does Dublin and Monaghan

political analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123211990#Comment_123211990

That's not the same thing.

The Dublin & Monaghan bombings took place at the height of the Troubles. The Omagh bombing was worse because all of the deaths & injuries were caused by one bomb and the misleading warning caused police to unwittingly send some of the victims into the blast zone and it took place after the Good Friday Agreement. Furthermore, John White, the ex-garda who claimed that gardaí let the Omagh bombing take place, was corrupt and thus not a credible witness.

suvigirl

What would it achieve?

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123212526#Comment_123212526

Exactly the same points for Dublin and Monaghan.The bombs in Dublin were placed to kill people who ran from one street to another while police scratched themselves at seeing BA uniforms.Corrupt police army government in 1974

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058398275/why-is-the-irish-government-not-having-a-parallel-inquiry-into-omagh-bombing

What do you think the government is hiding?

political analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123215232#Comment_123215232

The Dublin bombs were designed to kill at random. Liam Campbell was far more insidious because, as I read in the Magazine supplement of The Sunday Times recently, he wanted to kill RUC officers and so he gave vague warnings for Omagh and for the Banbridge bombing a fortnight before. The Omagh bomb was parked far away from the courthouse because the driver couldn't find a space to park closer to it - if it had been a no-warning attack then the death toll would have been closer to that of the Droppin Well pub bombing.

volchitsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123224737#Comment_123224737

I don't know what you mean by the last part: how would a no-warning bomb result in fewer deaths as in Ballykelly? Even if you mean there'd have been a higher ratio of police/army deaths compared to civilians, I don't really see how that would have been the case either. Giving a warning meant that the police and army were in the vicinity. No warning would have meant that quite likely only civilians would have been killed?

political analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123225038#Comment_123225038

The death toll in Omagh was higher than either of the bombs that exploded in Dublin in 1974 because the inaccurate warning caused RUC officers to unwittingly send people into the blast zone. If the Omagh bombing had been a no-warning attack, the death toll probably would have ranged from 13 to 17. By the way, I didn't say "only civilians" - I was referring to what was written about Campbell's mindset in The Sunday Times recently.

Paul_Crosby

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123224737#Comment_123224737

The Omagh Bomb was monitored, the Omagh bomb was allowed to go off, the Omagh bomb led to the FBI and MI5 destroying the RIRA from one side, while the Provos executed Joe O'Connell and others , Mo Molam called it "internal housekeeping" and the peace process was secured while McKevitt got 20 years. The Omagh Bomb sealed the signatory on the GFA, it was more than just a sloppy car bomb, think about it fs

Paul_Crosby

GCHQ monitored the bomb and let it go ahead, the Shankill Bomb passed through the hands of two informers and it still went ahead, have you guys been getting the real news about what actually happened 😂😂😂

political analyst

Jim O'Callaghan said the government will keep the decision not to hold a parallel public inquiry under review.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2025/0310/1501264-omagh-bombing/

political analyst

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr71xjqqdqo

A memorandum of understanding has been signed off at a cabinet meeting.

Victims' relatives wanted the government to have a separate public inquiry but Dublin previously indicated there was no evidence to merit such a move.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123234563#Comment_123234563

Sounds like you done the research, I will now think about it.

maccored

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123228280#Comment_123228280

I have an issue with the Omagh bomb. I grew up there throughout the 70s and 80s right up until I left as an adult. There had been many, many bombscares and I got caught in many of them. ALL of the time people were sent to the bus depot. I cant remember once when there was a bombscare in the town centre that people were sent to Market St - where the bomb went off in 1998. It's a strange statistic that the one time they did so, thats were the very bomb was.

itsacoolday

The fact remains the bomb, like many others before it, was prepared in the Republic and transported to N.I. by extremist Republicans who then fled back across the Border after planting the bomb.

Asked about reports of retired gardaí being advised not to testify, the Taoiseach told Newstalk radio: “I regret that if that’s the case.

“I think people should testify and people should co-operate, in my view, with the inquiry.

What do or did certain Gardai know? Like so much else, we will never really know.

It is only 2 days since the anniversary of the murder of N.I. Lord Justice Gibson and his wife, who were killed by a remote-controlled car bomb as they drove over the border back into N. Ireland on 25 April 1987 after a holiday in the USA. As the judge's car reached Drumad, the townland on the Co. Louth side of the border, he stopped to shake hands with the Garda security escort who had completed their part of the assignment. The couple had only a short drive to meet the RUC escort to Belfast. Their car was blown up in the short distance between the two police escorts. Of course there could have been no Garda collusion, so no need for an inquiry in determining how the pIRA had the time and knowledge to plant that bomb either.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123393661#Comment_123393661

They know that British security forces were tracking the bomb but didn't do anything to stop it. Whatever way you want to take that, it's what happened. Dublin and Monaghan bombs were mentioned earlier, similarly to that, there seems to be some agreement of silence between the British and Irish authorities.

itsacoolday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123393672#Comment_123393672

The British intelligence agency GCHQ have have been monitoring mobile phone calls between the bombers as the bomb car was being driven into Omagh, but did the Gardai do anything before that, to stop the bomb being made or intercept it on its trip before it crossed the border? What exactly did GBHQ know: was it just coded messages between the bombers or mothing suspicious? If I was a realIRA person transporting a bomb, I would not be making a phone call saying to my comrades "I have the bomb in the car".

Two other things worth thinking of. I would not like to have been an ordinary policeman told to stop armed terrorists on "active service". Republicans were known for using the element of surprise and not taking prisoners. Also, not too many years previously the Irish government would not even extradite captured IRA terrorists to N. Ireland?

The main blame for the Omagh bomb has to be the people who designed, made and planted the bomb.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123393732#Comment_123393732

British security had informants infested in the RIRA, don't be so naive to think they had to even listen to phone calls. The reason the investigation into the bombing hasn't got very far is because British security let the bomb happen. We'll never hear the details but there is a silence agreement between British and Irish authorities. Also, the British authorities will never admit that they could have stopped the bombing but didn't.

Randycove

it’s kind of funny the way the apologists will do anything to try and blame the British for atrocities carried out by their heroes in the RA.

Musicrules

Relatives of the victims of the RIRA bomb in Omagh have been asking for an investigation into why the bombing wasn't stopped when there was an opportunity to do so. Are they apologists for the RIRA?

itsacoolday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123393807#Comment_123393807

+1. Whenever the British did actually get sufficiently good information about a planned IRA attack, when, where etc and they did stop it, or try to stop it, they still got blamed, and shot at or attacked unless they had time to put a comprehensive plan in place. Even then, in a firefight with an unknown number of terrorists not in uniform, there was an element of risk. The IRA did not wear uniforms or take prisoners, and had the element of surprise, and were known to shoot their way out of trouble where possible. They also were known to lure security forces in to ambushes where possible.

Did the Gardai know about the bomb? After all, it was planned, made and transported from this jurisdiction?

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123394194#Comment_123394194

The British as you put it had plenty of information about numerous bombs and attacks. That's because they were the ones planting the bombs or teaming up with their loyalist pals to murder innocents.

But apart from that, some of the relatives of the victims of the Omagh bombing have asked the British authorities why the bombing wasn't stopped and a full investigation into that. These victims are not or were not in the RIRA, they obviously aren't RIRA sympathisers, they just want to find out the truth. Why are the British authorities denying them access to the full truth?

Randycove

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123394470#Comment_123394470

no one is questioning the motives of those who lost loved ones. It’s the motives of the IRA fanboys being called in to question.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123397685#Comment_123397685

Why are you calling the victims of the Omagh bombing IRA fanboys? What are you getting out of that? They want to see justice for their loved ones. Why not support them in getting the truth from an investigation into British security actions/inactions?

itsacoolday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123399475#Comment_123399475

It was not the British security forces who made and planted any of the many thousands of IRA bombs. The British security forces and others were intended to be, and often were, the victims of such bombs. The topic of this thread is why is the Irish govt not having a parallel inquiry in to the Omagh bomb? Why do you think that is, given the bomb was designed and made here south of the border, by people who would have described themselves as Irish?

REDBULL68

It was a set up ,mi6 played it to get rid of the real IRA ,they knew if the bomb killed loads it would be the end of the organisation, warning was sent ,mi6 sent the wrong message to psni to send the people towards the bomb ,allegedly. I don't know, heard it in a pub ,somewhere.

Ozymandius2011

I think two inquiries would be duplication. I think both governments should cooperate with the one thats there.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123399550#Comment_123399550

The British security forces made plenty of their own bombs and assisted their loyalist buddies in making many more. Together, they killed over 1,000 innocent people.

It's clear that there is some sort of agreement between the Irish and British authorities on this matter. That's why neither are investigating it fully. We know the bomb was tracked, we know it could have been stopped. Possibly one or more of the RIRA men were informants. The victims families have begged for the truth, what possible reason could the British authorities have for denying them that?

Randycove

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123399475#Comment_123399475

I wasn’t. I thought that was very clear. Of course they want answers to any mistakes they made.

You, on the other hand, just want to shift blame from the scum that carried out this attack.

Musicrules

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123399762#Comment_123399762

What a disgusting mealy mouthed post. Firstly, I never defended the bombers in any way. Secondly, you refer to the inactions of the British security forces as a 'mistake'. As if it's some menial thing. They knew all about the bomb and didn't stop it, that wasn't a mistake. The British authorities are now covering up their inactions and denying the victims families justice.

Calling that a mistake and trying to tar people who want justice as RIRA supporters is actually nauseating but you're not the only one who does it. The families of the Dublin and Monaghan bombs suffered it for years.