Omagh bombing: Difference between revisions

In 2001, a double agent known as [[Kevin Fulton]] claimed he told his [[MI5]] [[Agent handling|handlers]] three days before the bombing that the RIRA was about to bring a "huge bomb" across the border.<ref name="rightswatch16a">[http://www.rwuk.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Omagh-Report-15-8-13.pdf Report into the Omagh bombing] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019094823/http://www.rwuk.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Omagh-Report-15-8-13.pdf |date=19 October 2013 }} by Rights Watch/UK (15 August 2013), pp. 12–13.</ref> Fulton claims he also told them who he believed was making it and where it was being made.<ref name="rightswatch16a"/> He said that MI5 did not pass his information over to the police.<ref name="rightswatch16a"/><ref name="mirror">{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-78946779.html|title=Omagh Bomb: Probe into RUC 'warning' nears end|work=The Sunday Mirror|date=7 October 2001|accessdate=11 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0224/73414-omagh|title=MI5 withheld intelligence ahead of Omagh|date=24 February 2006|accessdate=14 March 2007|work=RTÉ News}}</ref>

David Rupert, an American citizen, was jointly run as an agent by MI5 and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]. He worked as a fundraiser for the RIRA. On 11 August 1998, four days before the bombing, Rupert informed his MI5 handlers that the RIRA was planning a car bomb attack in Omagh or [[Derry]]. It is not known whether this information was passed to the RUC Special Branch.<ref>[http://www.rwuk.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Omagh-Report-15-8-13.pdf Report into the Omagh bombing] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019094823/http://www.rwuk.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Omagh-Report-15-8-13.pdf |date=19 October 2013 }} by Rights Watch/UK (15 August 2013), p. 15</ref>

The [[Gardaí]] also had an agent close to the RIRA at the time. The agent, Paddy Dixon, stole cars for the RIRA, who used them to transport bombs.<ref name=rightswatch16b>[http://www.rwuk.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Omagh-Report-15-8-13.pdf Report into the Omagh bombing] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019094823/http://www.rwuk.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Omagh-Report-15-8-13.pdf |date=19 October 2013 }}, Rights Watch/UK (15 August 2013), pp. 12–13.</ref> Days before the bombing, the RIRA had Dixon steal the maroon Vauxhall Cavalier it would use in the attack.<ref name=rightswatch16b/> Dixon immediately told his handler; Detective Sergeant John White. On 12 August, White passed this on to his superior; Detective Chief Superintendent Dermot Jennings.<ref name=rightswatch16b/> According to White, Jennings told him that they would let the bomb go through, mainly so that the RIRA would not become suspicious of Dixon.<ref name=rightswatch16b/>

A BBC ''[[Panorama (TV series)|Panorama]]'' documentary, named "Omagh: What the police were never told", was aired in September 2008. It revealed that the British intelligence agency [[Government Communications Headquarters|GCHQ]] was monitoring mobile phone calls between the bombers as the bomb was being driven into Omagh.<ref name=rightswatch15>[http://www.rwuk.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Omagh-Report-15-8-13.pdf Report into the Omagh bombing] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019094823/http://www.rwuk.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Omagh-Report-15-8-13.pdf |date=19 October 2013 }}, rwuk.org (August 2013), pp. 15–16.</ref> Ray White, former Assistant Chief of RUC Special Branch, said GCHQ had been monitoring mobile phones at their request. He said he believed GCHQ were listening to the phone calls 'live', rather than merely recording them for later.<ref name=rightswatch15/> ''Panorama'' journalist [[John Ware (TV journalist)|John Ware]] claimed that a listening device had been hidden in the car and that GCHQ had recordings of what was said. None of this information was given to the RUC in Omagh at the time.<ref name=rightswatch15/> Transcripts of the phone calls were later handed over to RUC Special Branch.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7606834.stm|title=GCHQ 'monitored Omagh bomb calls'|date=14 September 2008|accessdate=14 September 2008|work=BBC News}}</ref>

Another song inspired by the bombings was "[[Peace on Earth (U2 song)|Peace on Earth]]" by rock group [[U2]].<ref name="u2"/> It includes the line, "They're reading names out over the radio. All the folks the rest of us won't get to know. Sean and Julia, Gareth, Ann, and Breda."<ref name="u2">{{cite web|url=http://www.u2faqs.com/songs/#23|title=Who are the people listed in "Peace On Earth"?|publisher=u2faqs.com|accessdate=11 April 2014|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140509191226/http://www.u2faqs.com/songs/#23|archivedate=9 May 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The five names mentioned are five of the victims from this attack.<ref name="u2"/> Another line, "She never got to say goodbye, To see the colour in his eyes, now he's in the dirt" was about how James Barker, a victim, was remembered by his mother Donna Barker in an article in the ''[[Irish Times]]'' after the bombing in Omagh.<ref name="u2"/> [[The Edge]] has described the song as "the most bitter song U2 has ever written".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.atu2.com/news/closer-to-the-edge.html|title=Closer to the Edge|work=Irish Times|date=21 October 2000|accessdate=18 February 2009}}</ref> The names of all 29 people killed during the bombing were recited at the conclusion of the group's anti-violence anthem "[[Sunday Bloody Sunday]]" during the [[Elevation Tour]]; one performance is captured on the concert video ''[[U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle, Ireland]]''.<ref>{{cite video|people=U2 |medium=Concert DVD|title=U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle|location=Slane Castle, Ireland|year=2003}}</ref>

In late 1999, [[Omagh District Council]] established the Omagh Memorial Working Group to devise a permanent memorial to the bombing victims.<ref name="city"/> Its members come from both public and private sectors alongside representatives from the Omagh Churches Forum and members of the victims' families.<ref name="city"/> The chief executive of the Omagh Council, John McKinney, stated in March 2000 that, "we are working towards a memorial. It is a very sensitive issue."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/669967.stm|title=Omagh bereaved 'not let down'|work=BBC News|date=8 March 2000|accessdate=11 April 2014}}</ref> In April 2007, the Council announced the launch of a public art design competition by the Omagh Memorial Working Group.<ref name="city">{{cite press release|url=http://www.omagh.gov.uk/the_council/press_releases/item.php?id=396|title=Design Competition Launched for Omagh Bomb Memorial|publisher=Omagh District Council|date=17 April 2007|accessdate=18 February 2009|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920122545/http://www.omagh.gov.uk/the_council/press_releases/item.php?id=396|archivedate=20 September 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The group's goal was to create a permanent memorial in time for the tenth anniversary of the bombing on 15 August 2008.<ref name="city"/><ref name="memorial"/> It has a total budget of £240,000.<ref name="city"/>