So here I am in Omagh to attend the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the bomb that killed 29 people (and unborn twins) in the name of a united Ireland. I’m writing a book about the civil case being taken by some of the families in an effort to nail some of the bastards – sorry, alleged bastards – responsible for this obscenity.The ceremony this afternoon is supposed to be about peace and love and the coming together of different traditions, but – in the Irish way – there is a split and a scandal.
The split is between the district council (21 members: 10 Sinn Fein) who are big on moving on and not mentioning the war (particularly not mentioning that it was a republican bomb) and the families who are taking the civil case who have refused to amalgamate their annual service with what they believe is a politicised event: theirs will be on Sunday. What everyone wants to know is will Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinnness and others who – before 1998 – approved of bombs be there this afternoon in their good suits.
The scandal is that Dame Nuala O’Loan, who was the first Police Ombudsman, has told Woman’s Hour:
“One of the things that surprised me, because I grew up in England, was that Protestants would have been taught as children that they could not trust Catholics…I could never understand why it mattered that I was a Catholic Police Ombudsman. It baffled me.”
Now I’m going to lie down in my darkened room before attending the ceremony.
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