The Omagh Bomb

“15th August 1998. The Omagh Bomb. To honour and remembered 31 people murdered and hundreds injured from three nations, by a dissident republican terrorist car bomb.”

The bomb was the work of the Real IRA and came three months after the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

The plaque – “presented by the Omagh Support And Self Help Group to honour the European Day Of Remembrance For Victims Of Terrorism, 11th March 2005, and at our wish unveiled by Dr. W.W. Foster” – is in Spanish (as well as English and Irish) because two of the victims were Spanish holiday-makers. 

The memorials shown were temporary, being replaced in 2008 (for the tenth anniversary) by a reflecting pool, mirrors, and engraved stones, one of which repeated the wording included here (BBC-NI).

Drumragh Avenue, Omagh

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
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Dead Man Walking

Denis Donaldson, IRA and Sınn Féın member, was killed by a shotgun blast to the chest in April 2006. He was living in a Donegal cottage after being outed as an Mi5 and Special Branch informer. The Real IRA later (2009) claimed responsibility. Next to that graffiti is “Vote your No. 1 army” (previously seen in 2005) with a number of modifications: it looks as though “Real” was replaced with “C” (Continuity IRA) and then all of the modifiers have been deleted in favour of simply “IRA”.

Gartan Square, Derry

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Copyright © 2007 Peter Moloney
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