The Omagh bomb trial, which was postponed earlier this month because of the illness of the main defence lawyer, is set to open this morning at Belfast Crown Court more than eight years after the Real IRA attack.
The trial of Co Armagh electrician Seán Gerard Hoey, who faces 58 charges, including the Omagh bombing in which 29 people including a woman pregnant with twin girls were killed, is expected to last up to two months, and possibly longer.
The case was scheduled to begin on September 6th but was adjourned until today because of the illness of Hoey's chief legal representative, Orlando Pownall.
At the time, the presiding judge, Mr Justice Weir, complained that the defence was tardy in making him aware of Mr Pownall's indisposition, and that he only learned "informally" of his illness shortly before the trial was to begin.
Omagh families also expressed frustration at the delay.
Mr Justice Weir pointedly told Mr Hoey's lawyers, "I do urge the defence to get to grips with the situation, review the position earlier rather than later and to come forward with some practical suggestion as to how we should proceed."
London-based lawyer Mr Pownall has now recovered from his illness and is ready to proceed today, according to sources.
Court officials last week alerted those involved in or reporting the trial to be prepared for the case opening today.
The court service has arranged a video link from Belfast Crown Court to a college in Omagh so the families can be saved the inconvenience of a daily 140-mile round trip to Belfast.
Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aidan was killed in the August 15th, 1998, Real IRA bombing, said that notwithstanding the facility in the college, some relatives of the victims would travel to Belfast for the opening of the case today.
"I think many of the families want to be at the court in Belfast for the opening," he said. "The video links lifts a tremendous daily burden of travel from the families," added Mr Gallagher.
