February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN — There will be no hiding place for those who carried out the Omagh bombing a year ago which claimed the lives of 29 and injured hundreds of others, it was emphasized in anniversary statements from the taoiseach and minister for Foreign Affairs.
A year after the bombing, only one man has been charged before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin with related offences despite dozens of arrests and the largest cross-border investigation of the current Northern Ireland Troubles.
Foreign Affairs Minister David Andrews said the bombing evoked horror, outrage and deep sympathy across the world and "unrelenting efforts to bring the perpetrators of this atrocity to justice are continuing both North and South, and will not cease".
The town and its people had stood firm and stood together.
"Omagh has become a byword for fortitude, resilience and a spirit of community," he said.
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Expressing sympathy and support, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that in the wake of the "truly terrible and utterly appalling atrocity", the
people of Ireland had made abundantly clear their "revulsion at and
rejection of violence".
Work would continue to bring about a situation where "no other family in these islands or further afield experiences the grief and loss" Omagh had suffered.
Ahern said that on the anniversary, survivors are still suffering
from their injuries, the bereaved are still trying to come to terms with their loss and those who responded and helped at the scene are still haunted by terrible injuries.