The sister of a Spanish victim of the 1998 Omagh bombing has said the public inquiry into the atrocity will allow her family to “close a wound that has been open for 26 years”.
Youth leader Rocio Abad Ramos (23), from Madrid, was one of 31 people, including unborn twins, killed when a car bomb planted by the Real IRA exploded in the Co Tyrone town on August 15th, 1998.
She and the other Spanish victim, Fernando Blasco Baselga (12), also from Madrid, had been staying in Buncrana, Co Donegal as part of an exchange programme.
Speaking through an interpreter at the inquiry in the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh, where a four-week period of commemorative hearings began on Tuesday, Paloma Abad Ramos described her sister as an extrovert who was always laughing and smiling.
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Omagh bomb: Sister of Spanish youth leader killed in atrocity hopes to ‘close a wound’ open for 26 years
Rocio Abad Ramos excelled at sport – she was crowned Spanish longjump champion at age 18 – and in her studies. She had won a scholarship to university, the inquiry heard, and wanted to become a teacher.
The youngest of three sisters, she had visited Buncrana for five consecutive summers to learn English and formed a close bond with her host family.
“She had a family here … she loved [the] Irish and the culture and the country,” Ms Abad Ramos said.
She thanked those who helped recover her sister’s remains and described returning to Spain on a military plane “with the two coffins, Fernando’s and Rocio’s … at a certain moment, I stood up, because it came to my mind that I would like to feel Rocio’s energy, if possible, so I hugged the coffin, Rocio’s coffin.”
Solicitor Michael Donaghy read a statement from the Blasco Baselga family, in which they described Fernando as “a good, happy and generous child” who “got along well with everyone”.
One of seven siblings, he was a member of his school handball team and his favourite food was rice salad.
“When asked what was important to him, his response was ‘to reach Heaven’, pointing with an arrow upwards to the word God. That’s what he wanted for his future. He didn’t consider anything else,” his family said.
The inquiry into the bombing, which opened last year, was ordered by the UK government to examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by British state authorities.
It followed a 2021 High Court judgement which found it was potentially plausible the bombing could have been prevented and recommended the UK government carry out a human rights-compliant investigation into alleged security failures in the lead-up to the attack.
It also urged Ireland to establish its own investigation. The Government has formally agreed to provide assistance to the inquiry.
Asked on Tuesday about this, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he believed there should be full cooperation. He noted previous instances where the government had passed legislation enabling it to share information with inquiries overseas.
Tánaiste Simon Harris told reporters in Belfast he wanted to give a “categoric” assurance that the “Irish Government will ensure full co-operation with the inquiry”.
Nobody has ever been convicted of the murders of the Omagh victims in a criminal court, but in 2009 – following a landmark civil case taken by the families of some of the victims – a judge ruled that four men – Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly - were liable for the bomb and ordered them to pay £1.6 million in damages. A fifth man, Seamus McKenna, was acquitted.
Opening the commemorative hearings on Tuesday, the inquiry chair, Lord Turmbull, said the personal testimony delivered will have an “important value in informing and educating others as to the real effect of terrorist violence”.
He said those who watched and listened to the evidence “will be overwhelmed and humbled, as I have been, on hearing of the appalling injuries inflicted on people of all ages, and of the dignity and compassion with which so many of those have coped”.
He said it was his “sincere hope that all of those who supported or condoned the use of such acts of violence will learn of the actual and indiscriminate and devastating consequences of such selfish conduct for innocent, hard-working and caring people of all ages and for their communities”.
Arriving at the inquiry, Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died in the bombing, said it was important to focus on the victims.
“In all of this sometimes the voice of the victims is lost because there are so many technical arguments but this brings humanity to it,” he said.
“I just hope for me this is the beginning of the end, that we do get the answers we need, that both the British government and the Irish Government fully co-operate with the inquiry.”
The names of each of the 31 victims were read out, followed by a minute’s silence.
Senior counsel to the inquiry Paul Greaney outlined the evidence that will be heard during the four-weeks of commemorative hearings.
He said it would begin with pen portraits “to explain who each person who died was in life, to recognise their individuality and allow family members to set out the impact of the death of their loved one”.
It would then move on to “hear personal statements from those who are injured in, or were directly affected by the bombing, because this will recognise the wider impact of the atrocity on the community here in Omagh and beyond.”
The barrister said the impact of the bombing was “vital to the investigation of the issue of preventability, and for that reason, we will not shy away from shining a bright light on the terrible consequences of that day”.
“We will all then have this evidence in mind as the inquiry moves on to consider evidence as to preventability.”
The inquiry resumes on Wednesday.
