A woman who lost members of three generations of her family in the Omagh bombing has told an inquiry into the atrocity that she hopes nobody else ever suffers like she and her relatives have.
Mary Grimes died in the Real IRA attack in the Co Tyrone town on August 15th, 1998, which was her 66th birthday. Her daughter Avril Monaghan (30), who was pregnant with twin girls, and Avril’s daughter Maura (20 months) also died.
Inquiry chair Lord Turnbull described the multigenerational loss in the family as “incomprehensible”.
Fearghal Grimes, a son of Ms Grimes, recalled former senior coroner John Leckey saying at the Omagh bomb inquests that he could not recall any one family suffering such a loss in the Troubles.
European political centre may regret borrowing from far-right’s migration playbook
Today’s 25-year-olds are a worried bunch and they’re not just sweating the small stuff
Dave Hannigan: Sad spectacle as Marion Jones bids to rebuild her ruined brand
‘I’ve been blind to the fact that my partner is actually married to his mother’
He described his mother, who had 11 children, as a woman with a strong Catholic faith, a strong work ethic and a “deep sense of family values and she lived these out every day”.
“No one was ever turned away from her door and no one left without a cup of tea or some of her beautiful currant bread or apple tart,” he said.
“Her tragic passing in the cruellest of ways possible, the Omagh bomb, robbed us, her family, her husband, friends and neighbours of a chance to pay back the love and affection she had shown to all of her.”
In a recording played to the inquiry, Ms Monaghan’s daughter Aoibheann paid tribute to her mother, her infant sister Maura, and the unborn twins, who were to be named Eimear and Evelyn.
“The Omagh bomb stole our mummy from her loved ones, leaving behind a grieving husband and three of her children aged only five, four and three, as well as the wider Monaghan and Grimes families,” she said.
“The loss we as a family have experienced over the last 26 years cannot be measured, and there is no replacement for the time we would have had with mummy, Maura, Eimear, Evelyn and granny.
“We are, however, eternally grateful for the time we did have with them, and we only hope that no other family has to suffer as we did.”
Wednesday’s sitting at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh was the second day of a planned four weeks of commemorative hearings for the 31 people killed as well as those impacted.
It also heard tributes to the second youngest victim, Breda Devine (20 months), and Alan Radford (16), who was in Omagh with his mother to help her with the shopping.
Alan was also set to open a bank account as he prepared for the next stage of his life, the inquiry heard. His family received his GCSE results days after his death and he had intended to go to catering college.
His sister, Claire Hayes, described her brother as a person full of “immense love”.
“It’s like he was the ray of sunshine, the light just shone out of that boy,” she said.
Speaking outside the inquiry, Ms Hayes expressed concern as to whether the process, set up to examine whether the attack could reasonably have been prevented, will uncover the full truth.
However, Ms Hayes said she was sceptical given the Irish Government is not a full participant in the proceedings.
“They planned it in the South, they built that bomb in the South and they destroyed our town, our lives and our family’s life forever,” she told reporters after giving her evidence.
Earlier this week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said his Government will co-operate “fully” with the inquiry, while Tánaiste Simon Harris said Dublin “will not be found wanting”.
Ms Hayes added: “I don’t want this to be another 10 years of battling with the Irish Government to do what they should be doing. We have fought long and hard as families. I want this to be open and completely transparent.”
DUP leader Gavin Robinson raised the matter with UK prime minister Keir Starmer in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Mr Starmer described the bombing as a “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” which “shocked the world”. He said he welcomed the Irish Government’s “commitment to co-operate with the inquiry”. – PA
