Survivors must be at the centre of the Omagh Bomb Enquiry – Bacik

Labour Leader and Spokesperson for Northern Ireland Ivana Bacik TD has welcomed that draft legislation will be introduced to hold an inquiry on the circumstances of the Omagh Bombing. She has emphasised the importance of survivor-led and independent processes to progress meaningful truth and reconciliation for victims and survivors of the Troubles and for all communities across the island of Ireland.

Deputy Bacik said:

“I welcome Minister O’Callaghan’s announcement that legislation will be published later this week to enable the taking of oral testimony before the Irish courts for the purposes of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry.

“Truth and reconciliation will take significant work, across a breadth of issues. Today’s announcement is another important step in the right direction.

“I look forward to reading the legislation. It must be robust and must place justice for survivors at its heart. In recent Dáil statements on Operation Kenova, I commended that body’s admirable rigour, independence and emphasis on survivors. We must ensure now that other tragedies such as the Omagh bombings, and indeed the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, are investigated with the same rigour.

“Dealing with our past is not limited to any one piece of legislation or to the outworkings of the joint framework on the Legacy of the Troubles. Labour is committed to dealing fairly with the past and to justice and to legacy mechanisms which meet standards under the European Convention on Human Rights. This is about people who have been hurt, who have suffered and who have been bereaved. Their right to truth and justice is absolute, not partial or selective.”