The authorities in the North are preparing to charge a south Armagh man (34) with 29 counts of murder in connection with the 1998 Omagh bombing.
Sean Gerard Hoey, from Jonesborough, is expected to be charged in the coming weeks. If so, he will be the first person to be brought before the courts for allegedly carrying out the "Real IRA" attack.
Mr Hoey is already in custody in Maghaberry Prison awaiting trial on separate charges relating to alleged dissident republican activity.
Legal proceedings are expected to last many months after the authorities amassed thousands of documents and exhibits following a review of forensic evidence in the Omagh case. The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Belfast has now authorised murder charges to be brought.
Police investigations into the Omagh bombing have not gone smoothly, with persistent complaints from the families who wanted murder charges to be brought. They continue to press for a full cross-border public inquiry.
In January Colm Murphy, the only man jailed for the Omagh bombing, was granted a retrial in Dublin after winning his appeal against his conviction.
He was jailed in 2002 for 14 years on a charge of conspiring to cause an explosion in August 1998, the date of the "Real IRA" attack.
Michael McKevitt, who was chief of staff of the "Real IRA" at the time of the Omagh attack, is serving a 20-year sentence for directing terrorism, a charge that did not specifically include the Omagh bombing.