Inquiry launched into Omagh bombing 25 years after IRA atrocity which killed 29

An independent inquiry into the Omagh bombing which killed 29, including nine children and a woman pregnant with twins, will be launched 25 years after the Real IRA atrocity.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told the House of Commons that the probe will be set up following a court judgement compelling the government to investigate.

The announcement comes after bereaved dad Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died in the attack, took a legal challenge leading to the call for action.

Mr Heaton-Harris said the investigation will focus on whether the bombing could have been avoided – and said he hopes it gives “comfort” to families.

But the government was accused of inconsistency by not taking the same approach with other major incidents during the Northern Ireland Troubles.

Mr Heaton-Harris told MPs: “I have informed Mr Gallagher and members of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, as well as representatives of Families Moving On of this decision.

“The inquiry will focus specifically on the four grounds which the court held as giving rise to plausible arguments that the bombing could have been prevented.”

He continued: “I hope the decision to establish an independent statutory inquiry gives some comfort to those families who have long campaigned for this outcome. I recognise however, that not all families affected by the bombing desire such further investigation.

“Some have worked hard to process their trauma and to move on with their lives and do not wish to re-examine the past. I hope that the targeted nature of the inquiry to allow it to answer the four points I mentioned earlier will provide the middle ground.”

The next step, Mr Heaton-Harris said, will be to appoint the chair of the inquiry and finalise the terms of reference.

Labour’s shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle welcomed the move – but said there is a “clash” between the Omagh decision and the approach to other Troubles killings.

He said: “It’s important to say that if the inquiry finds shortcomings in how the intelligence was used, it will not change the fact that it was republican terrorists who are ultimately responsible for the lives lost and changed that day.”

Mr Kyle added that the Republic of Ireland has a “moral obligation” to start its own investigation.

Controversial legislation put forward by the government would see a new body headed by a judge report on hundreds of killings carried out before the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Perpetrators would be offered conditional amnesties, a move which has sparked outrage among the families of victims.

Mr Kyle told the Commons: “The fact the Secretary of State is calling for this inquiry does clash with the Government’s overall approach to legacy issues. We oppose the Government’s Legacy Bill because it provides more benefits to perpetrators than it does to victims of terror.

“The Secretary of State has put Omagh families at the heart of today’s decision. I’m worried that other victims of atrocities during the Troubles will be watching and wondering why their loved ones are not being treated in a similar way?”

He added: “A seesaw approach to policy isn’t healthy in any circumstances, but least of all when dealing with the sensitivities of Northern Ireland’s past. The Government has presented its logic as to why the atrocities committed in late 1998 qualify for a public inquiry, and those before don’t.

“But it’s a logic only understood within Whitehall. Many families… simply cannot see the logic of why the crimes that shattered their lives are undeserving of similar treatment to that announced today.”

He went on: “If he (Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris) is proceeding with a legacy approach he has inherited, he needs to be certain that it will provide the same comfort to and answers to all victims that he is offering the families of Omagh today.”