Relatives of Omagh victims today called on the worlds of business and entertainment to help meet a one-and-a-half million pound shortfall to fund their civil case against the people suspected of causing the bombing.
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Destruction caused by the Omagh bomb
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Mr Victor Barker, whose 12-year-old son James was among the 29 who died in the atrocity, said he feared people did not want to donate money because it was a "Northern Ireland issue".
The group has seven months to reach its target of £2 million to fund the civil action but since the appeal was launched 18 months ago it has raised just £500,000.
Mr Barker also said he hoped Sinn Fein leader Mr Gerry Adams would agree to encourage supporters to give evidence to the Garda Siochana about the bombing to take the criminal action forward.
Speaking in Westminster at the start of a four-day campaign in London to raise the profile of the civil case, he said he had recently challenged Mr Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness on their stance over the bombing.
He said he would press for a change in their position at a meeting they have agreed to have with him.
The relatives have until August - a year after they served the civil writ - to raise the estimated £1 million in prosecution and £1 million defence costs for the case.
Mr Barker said he was not interested in being used as a "football" in the ongoing row between the offices of Police Ombudsman Mrs Nuala O'Loan and Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan over the atrocity.
"What I am interested in is getting the people prosecuted," he said, adding the row was "alienating" the families.
Mr Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed in Omagh, added that he wanted to see the criminal investigation get back on track. "If that's what's needed, a new team, new leader, whatever, let's get that done."
Britain’s shadow Northern Ireland secretary Mr Quentin Davies, who held a meeting with the relatives earlier, said it was not a party political issue but called on Sinn Fein to assist in the Omagh investigation.
PA