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Police know the killer and fear he will strike again

by Dan Collins
and Joe Oliver
THE TERRORIST leader suspected of orchestrating the massacre of the innocents in Omagh, Co Tyrone, in which 28 people were butchered, including nine children and 13 women, is known to the security forces on both sides of the Border.
The former IRA quartermaster, who founded the self-styled Real IRA, is still at large. Furthermore, he is regarded by both the Gardaí and the RUC as somebody capable of masterminding further acts of terrorism.
It emerged yesterday that three generations of one family - including a pregnant mother carrying twins - were among the 28 innocent people blown to pieces by the 500lb carnival day car bomb.
The majority of the fatalities were women and children, including three school children from Buncranna, County Donegal, and a total of 220 people were injured in Saturday's blast which destroyed the town centre.
A major crackdown on splinter terrorist groups was promised by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, yesterday, as the Government moved to review the security threat posed by organisations which are opposed to the Northern Ireland peace agreement.
Mr Ahern voiced his determination to take whatever action necessary to crush the threat posed by paramilitary groups, after yesterday's meeting of the cabinet's security sub-committee.
Yesterday, the Taoiseach met with Minister of State at Foreign Affairs Liz O'Donnell, Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne and the head of the Garda security and crime division, Assistant Commissioner Pat O'Toole, as well as officials from several Government departments.
Following the meeting, Mr Ahern said nothing – including the possibility of re-introducing internment – could be ruled out.
Mr Ahern said he had no doubt that the dissidents styling themselves the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the political wing of the Real IRA were behind the Omagh bomb. ''Whatever resources are necessary to crush this organisation will be given,'' he pledged.
President Mary McAleese, who visited the scene of the blast yesterday, said she was "deeply shocked. "The bombing has obliterated the hopes and dreams of so many families in one cruel afternoon of purposeless terrorism," said President McAleese. She said everything had to be done to ensure that the people responsible for the atrocity would face the full rigour of the law.
Minister for Justice John O'Donoghue arrived back in Dublin Airport last night after cutting short his holiday and pledged that no group of terrorists would be allowed to subvert the Northern Ireland peace initiative.
"The people who have perpetrated this heinous and most awful crime will be brought to justice," the Minister promised.
US President Bill Clinton condemned the "butchery" of the Omagh bombing and said he did not intend to let it interfere with his visit to Northern Ireland next month.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair broke off his holiday in France to fly to the North to meet political leaders and pledged the killers would not be allowed to wreck the Northern Ireland peace process: ''We will not let these people wreck the future. The future belongs to the decent people of Northern Ireland. It doesn't belong to the criminals and psychopaths,'' he told reporters. ''They are a small group of people, a tiny fanatical group of people. They have no political base, they have no votes, they have no support in Northern Ireland. They have just this capacity for evil.''
Yesterday, the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister met at Stormont House after which both men said the Irish and British governments would work closely to "crush'' the individuals responsible for the Omagh atrocity.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams was jostled and jeered yesterday by people waiting at the emergency centre in Omagh for news of missing friends and relatives. Mr Adams condemned the bombing "without any equivocation whatsoever."
Last night, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement issued the following statement: "We are deeply saddened and devastated by the terrible tragedy in Omagh. We share the grief and sorrow of everyone on the island of Ireland and we offer our sincere sympathy to the injured, the bereaved, their families and friends at this time. The killing of innocent people cannot be justified . . . We reject categorically any suggestion that has been publicly made that our movement was responsible in any way." However, the first rumblings from those connected to RIRA's political wing, the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, hinted that the phone warning of the bomb had been accurate and explicit about the stolen car's location.
But police were in no doubt they had deliberately provided the wrong information in order to maximise casualties. Forensic experts were still examining the remains of the devastated car. Its number plates were vaporised in the explosion but police have suggested the vehicle was hijacked in the Republic some days ago.
Two Spaniards became the first tourists to be killed in Northern Ireland's troubles. A woman teacher and pupil, who were visiting Omagh as part of an exchange group from Madrid staying in Buncranna, County Donegal, were caught in the terrorist maelstrom.
Three months ago, an overwhelming majority of the 20,000 people of Omagh voted in favour of the Good Friday peace agreement.

Omagh's heart ripped out
as bodies were identified

by Niall Murray
FAMILIES and communities on both sides of the border were united in grief in the wake of the horrific bomb attack which ripped through Omagh on Saturday afternoon, claiming 28 innocent lives.
Most of the victims who had been identified last night — 14 women, five men, four boys and three girls — were from the Omagh area.
Three boys from Co Donegal, a woman originally from Co Cork, and two young Spanish people were also killed.
The grim list slowly lengthened yesterday, as distressed family members visited the temporary morgue in the town's army barracks to identify bodies.
The incident centre set up in Omagh's sports complex was busy all day, with people seeking information of friends and relatives who were unaccounted for.
People flocked to churches of all denominations throughout the day, remembering those who were killed and injured, and uniting in prayer.
Members of the emergency services spent the day carrying out the arduous task of identifying limbs and other body parts which were ripped from the victims.
The extent of the injuries to dozens of people required hospital staff to amputate arms and legs. Many of the victims had taken advantage of Saturday's fine weather to shop for school uniforms, while others were looking forward to the festival parade later in the evening.
Last night, the people of Omagh were still trying to come to terms with the gruesome consequences of the bomb, which has devastated their lives and their town, while church and political leaders united in condemnation of the brutal terrorist attack.
The Donegal town of Buncrana was also in mourning for three young boys and two Spanish visitors who were killed in the blast that claimed 28 lives. The boys, aged between 8 and 12, were on a day-trip with a group of Spanish students visiting their town to learn English.
They were unofficially named last night as eight-year-old Oran Doherty, 12-year-old Seán McLaughlin, and James Barker, also 12.
A 12-year-old boy, Fernando Blasco, and his 24-year-old teacher, Rosio Abad, both from Madrid, were also among the victims of the bomb.
Spain's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are expected to arrive in Northern Ireland today, along with families of the dead and injured Spanish visitors.
The town was suffering from complete shock and disbelief at the tragic news yesterday, as the families and friends of the young victims were being comforted by neighbours.
It emerged yesterday that the 65-year-old woman who died along with her daughter and 18-month-old granddaughter was a native of North Cork.
Mary Grimes, a retired nurse moved to Co Tyrone 35 years ago, but originally hailed from Lismire, near Kanturk, Co Cork. Her husband, James, is a native of Omagh, and the couple kept a farm at Beragh, near the town.
Saturday's blast killed the mother-of-12, along with her 30-year-old daughter, Avril Monaghan, who was heavily pregnant with twins, and her infant daughter, Maura.
News of Mrs Grimes' tragic death brought shock to the parish of Lismire, where she was a regular visitor, most recently just two weeks ago. Many of her immediate family still live in the area, including three brothers and three sisters.
They were last night preparing to make the 200-mile journey to Omagh.
A further tragedy hit the Tyrone town yesterday morning, when a motorist died after colliding with an ambulance transferring victims of the bomb between hospitals.

RUC expect to publish full list of victims today

THE RUC expect to release full details of all the deceased at lunch-time today. These are some of the unofficial identifications which were available last night:

Lorraine Wilson, 15, from Omagh
Samantha McFarland, 17, from Omagh
Brian McCrorry, in his 40s, from Omagh
Gareth Conway, 19, from Carrickmore
Julie Hughes, 21, from Omagh
Brenda Logue, 17, from Carrickmore
Elizabeth Rush, 57, from Omagh
Geraldine Breslan, 35, from Omagh
Sean McLaughlin, 12, from Buncrana
Oran Doherty, 8, from Buncrana
James Barker, 12, from Buncrana
Mary Grimes, 65, from Beragh
Avril Monaghan, 30, from Augher
Maura Monaghan, 18 months, from Augher
Fernando Blasco, 12, Madrid
Rosio Abad, 24, Madrid
Philomena Skelton, 39, Drumquin
Esther Gibson, late 20s, from Beragh

SF quick to indict killers

by Greg Harkin
THE LEADERSHIP of the republican movement moved quickly to condemn the Omagh bombers, a new departure for Sinn Féin in being unequivocal about their statement. Leaders like Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Mitchel McLaughlin all visited the shattered market town.
Mr Adams told reporters: "The fact is that it looks like that there will be up to 30 people killed here and hundreds of people injured, so the first thing at a human level is to reach out and express sympathy with all of their families. It isn't a day for party politics. We all need to keep focused. Everybody needs to build this peace process no matter what has happened here this weekend."
He said Sinn Féin's commitment to peace probably wouldn't mean anything to the families devastated by the bombers. "Our commitment is to build peace, freedom and justice and the Body copy people of the island of Ireland deserve that," said Mr Adams.
He refused to speculate on the bombers' intentions on Saturday afternoon, adding: "I would appeal to them to stop and I would appeal to whatever group was involved for that group to admit its responsibility."
His party colleague Mitchell McLaughlin spent Saturday night in the Tyrone town. What he had seen, he said, had "shocked me to the core." Mr McLaughlin went on: "I think all of those who visit Omagh or who see the scenes on television will be similarly affected.
"We will send our condolences, we will bury our dead and I think people will then reflect on what that represents in terms of the history we have had compared to the hope that we have for the peace process."
Sinn Féin, he said, had a telephone conference on Saturday evening to discuss the party's reaction to the bombing. They had no difficulty in repudiating the bombers and the deaths and destruction they had left behind. Mr McLaughlin added: "I have seen some terrible sights in the past 30 years, but Omagh, in a particular way and possibly because it has come in the middle of ceasefires and news of other ceasefires last week, is deeply shocking.
"It has rocked us all back to the reality that whilst we have a peace process, we have not yet achieved peace in our society."
Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness called on dissident republicans opposed to the Good Friday settlement, who have been blamed for the Omagh bombing, to stop their attacks. "They must face up to the reality that their actions are counter-productive in the present situation we are involved in.
"These small dissident groups should immediately halt their activities," he told Sky News. He believed that nationalist and republican voters who had supported the peace process would put pressure on the bombers to stop. "I think those people will make their views and their feelings about this appalling act crystal-clear in the course of the coming days and weeks."

I can only hope, and pray, I never witness such an act of insane savagery in the North again

by Joe Oliver
I THOUGHT I had seen it all in almost 30 years reporting the despair that is my native Northern Ireland.
The McGurk's sectarian pub slaughter in 1971 and the Warrenpoint bomb which killed 19 British soldiers at Narrow Water in 1979.
The IRA fireball at La Mon House restaurant in 1978 which killed 12 people and the Droppin Well bomb at Ballykelly in 1982.
Tragedy heaped upon tragedy.
I will probably never forget the scene of carnage I witnessed in Enniskillen on November 11, 1987.
Eleven died and more than 60 were injured. Even the heaven's wept on that fateful day.
But nothing could have prepared me to the scenes of horror I witnessed in Omagh.
Twenty-eight innocents, men, women, and children, slaughtered.
Three generations of one Augher family wiped out — a 65-year-old grandmother, her pregnant daughter and an 18-month-old baby.
Three boys, between 8 and 12, from Buncrana in Co.Donegal along with a 24-year-old teacher and 12-year-old boy from Spain. All dead.
More than 200 injured, some with limbs missing, others blinded and gasping for life.
It was the worst single atrocity during 30 years of terrorist violence in which 3,306 have now died.
And it happened just weeks after people in Northern Ireland and the Republic heralded a new dawn and voted overwhelmingly for peace in the referendum.
It happened at a time when people had not only embraced peace but witnessed the unthinkable, long-time political enemies sitting down together in a new Assembly.
Whether those hopes have now been completely dashed, only time can really tell.
But mere words can't describe the agony of Omagh today.
A town nestling in the heart of Co.Tyrone, some 15 miles from the Donegal border.
An oasis of peace and until now, largely untouched by the troubles in the North.
On Saturday mums, dads and children had gathered to take part in the town's annual cross-community carnival, a procession of almost 300 colourful floats that made its way along the main street.
Even when the bomb alert came, people were not unduly alarmed.
They moved in an orderly fashion as police began evacuating shops and business premises — straight into the area where the stolen Vauxhall Cavalier and its deadly cargo awaited them. Forty minutes after the warning the car erupted as jagged fragments of the vehicle were hurled at jet-like speed for hundreds of yards.
Those standing in the immediate vicinity, and behind tape police used to seal off the courthouse, stood no chance. They were blown to bits.
I and several colleagues arrived an hour-and-a-half later to witness the carnage.
Ambulance crews had by that time removed many of the bodies. But the screams of the injured could be heard clearly in the eerie silence which had fallen over the town.
Like others, we tried to help, stunned at the enormity of the atrocity. One boy with half his leg blown off, clutched his Liverpool scarf as he was helped into an ambulance.
One woman lay huddled in blankets in a shattered shop doorway. Her right arm seemed to be missing.
Others, blood-stained and weeping, stood dazed as they looked on in bewilderment at the destruction.
All around, the personal possessions of people whose lives were snuffed out in a single second of madness, lay amid the debris. Shattered glasses, shoes, shopping bags, children's toys and an upturned wheelchair, its wheels still spinning.
A police officer I hadn't seen for almost 20 years at the scene of another disaster, turned away from me. He was weeping. So was I.
At the Tyrone County Hospital, the scene was horrendous as the dead, dying and injured were stretchered in.
A trail of blood led up the steps of the hospital and the floor of the casualty department was awash with gore.
Doctors and nurses, their white and starched uniforms covered in blood, did what they could to help, comfort, assure. For some it was too late, for others death was only minutes away.
And at the sound of the sirens, you knew there were still more innocent victims to come.
With them came an army of off-duty doctors and nurses from hospitals across the country.
Ministers and priests too. Some had already administered the last rites at the scene and had come to help anxious family members as they waited for some news, any news, of their loved ones.
Kevin Skelton was there too. He was searching for his wife of 20 years who he had last seen lying amid the debris of a shoe shop.
He would later, much later, identify her body.
"How can anybody justify this?" asked a shocked policeman who had left the scene after being told that his wife and possibly his daughter were among the injured.
No one could. No one could justify such unspeakable mass murder of the innocents in any name or cause, or the horror inflicted on a town with a mixed and integrated community.
Northern Ireland had, in a split second of madness, been plunged back into the bloody pages of history.
I can only hope, and pray, I never witness such an act of insanity again.

What the world says

Tony Blair: "These people will not succeed.

Pope John Paul: He prayed for the people of Omagh

Gerry Adams: ''I am totally horrified by this action. I condemn it without equivocation.''

David Trimble: ''Sinn Féin cannot escape its responsibility in this bloody atrocity.''

Queen Elizabeth: ''I was shocked to hear of the appalling crime in Omagh which resulted in so many deaths and injuries. Please pass my heartfelt sympathy to the bereaved, injured and those others who have suffered in their distress.''

Tony Blair: ''This is an appalling act of savagery and evil by people who are determined, whatever the cost to innocent people, to wreck the prospects for peace in Northern Ireland.
''We will pursue them to the utmost in order to bring them to justice for this terrible deed. These people will never be allowed to win."

Bill Clinton: ''I renew my pledge to stand with the people of Northern Ireland against the perpetrators of violence; they will find no friends here.
''On behalf of the American people, I condemn this butchery.''

Ronnie Flanagan: ''We have had men, women and children slaughtered here this afternoon, slaughtered by murderers who have nothing else to offer. Our thoughts go out to the people who have been injured."

John Hume: ''It is clear that the people who carried out this terrible deed today are not only appalling murderers, they are undiluted fascists. ''They are clearly attempting to impose their will on the people of Ireland as a whole, against the will of people of Ireland.
''This tiny minority are seeking to impose their views by murder, that is undiluted fascism.''

Séamus Mallon: ''The people of Omagh have had a terrible, terrible price to pay for the sheer atavism and barbarity of the people who carried this out. What I say to those people is they will not succeed and they will not win because we will not allow them to do so.''

Martin McGuinness: ''This appalling act was carried out by those opposed to the peace process. It is designed to wreck the process and everyone should work to ensure the peace process continues."

Eyewitness Dorothy Boyle: ''I've never seen anything like it. I saw bodies lying everywhere, dead people being zipped into bags.''

Ian Paisley: ''I have as much respect for the British Government as I have for the IRA. They both have played this game of telling people we can win this by concession after concession.''

Pope John Paul II: ''I hope for the dear island that the people of goodwill will not yield to violence."

Nelson Mandela: "I urge the people of the United Kingdom and Ireland today to continue pursuing peace even more steadfastly." 

George Mitchell: "A minority of cowards are trying to destroy what is supported by an overwhelming majority of the people.'' 

John Bruton: "The bombers are addicted to violence and had no place in a civilised society. 

Archbishop Connell: "I wish to convey my horror at this sadistic attack on the people of Omagh."

Archbishop Empey: "The bombers were depraved beyond belief."

Whoever planted it
are scum, not men

by Gerry McLaughlin
OUTSIDE Omagh Leisure Centre, it was as cold as a stepmother's kiss.
Musical mobile phones jangled while journalists from all over the world tried feebly to convey something of the slaughter of the innocents as the market town of Omagh was swathed in an eerie silence.
Inside, the relatives watched and waited in tears for the magical words that said their loved ones were being treated in the Tyrone Hospital, Altnagelvin Hospital or the Erne Hospital in neighbouring Fermanagh.
It was like waiting for the end of an examination but everyone knew that the results would be more deadly.
Inside the glass building, relatives, social workers and politicians waited with an increasing sense of helplessness.
Up in a corner, Sinn Féin's Mid Ulster MP Martin McGuinness anxiously crouched over a mobile phone flanked by party chairman Mitchel McLaughlin and West Tyrone PRO Plunkett Donaghy.
The three looked tense and uneasy.
Ulster Unionist MP Willie Thompson stood impassively.
The social services co-ordinator, John McKinney, emphasised the enormity of the tragedy and said they were dealing with hundreds of enquiries as speedily as possible.
At about 2 a.m. we were told that the injured list had climbed to almost 150.
But it was the horror on the faces of the relatives of those who were not called that we will never forget.
Out on Market Street, the rubble, that buried so many hopes, remained.
And, no dogs walked the streets.
An Omagh driving instructor wept uncontrollably as he described the remains of a "charred baby" in the rubble of Saturday's horrific bomb.
Soft spoken 47-year-old Frank Pancott was one of the first on the scene of Saturday afternoon's slaughter of the innocents.
"It could easily have been me. I turned into the corner of Market Street and the stench of death was everywhere.
"There was a curious mix of smoke and a terrible burning smell.
"I'll never forget it. I saw a small charred figure among the blood and glass among the moans and cries.
"It looked like a two-year-old baby ... completely black and charred.
"What kind of scum would do a thing like that?
"I saw at least 15 bodies. I did what I could.
"I saw a girl or what was left of her in a manhole with water lapping around her. It was so unreal.
"Some of the bodies were lying side by side. It was eerie. One minute they were looking into the shop windows for a bargain and the next, they were laid out cold on the pavement.
"We got tables and whatever we could to get the injured to the hospital and to try and comfort those who were beyond help.
"I will never forget it. Those who planted it are scum. They are not men ... no man could ever contemplate this."
Elsewhere, the people of Omagh were lost in grief last night, struggling to comprehend the scale of the atrocity.
The terrible work of identifying the bodies, many mutilated beyond recognition, had dragged on like torture throughout the day and still relatives held on to the last vestiges of hope as night fell.
Those who were fit enough to leave their homes, crowded into the churches, desperately trying to make sense of the unspeakable horrors that had been inflicted upon them. Mothers held their young ones close, the terrible injuries suffered by children all too vivid in their minds.
In the street where the bomb went off silence finally descended but a mangled pram lay among the wreckage still, bearing awful testimony to the carnage.
At the incident centre in the town's sports complex, dozens of families who had hung on to the smallest hope that their loved ones might be alive somewhere, collapsed in tears as they were told the worst.
Family after family was led weeping from the centre and driven to the makeshift morgue in the nearby army barracks to perform the final sad task of identifying a body.
Police officers in uniform, many of whom had lost friends, stood crying.
Many of those who had lost loved ones returned to an empty house.
Lindsay Hall, whose son Alastair lost a leg, wept uncontrollably as he produced his son's treasured rugby ball and wondered why it couldn't have been him instead.
''He's only 12, I'm 57 — why couldn't it have happened to me. Poor Ali loved his rugby but he'll never be able to play again.''

Aids campaigner vows to fight
on as son succumbs to virus

by Dan Collins
GERARD HEALY, the Corkman who spent most of his adult life tirelessly campaigning for medical support for people with Aids, died at the weekend.
Last night, Gerard's father, Joe – who for the past 14 years lobbied with his son for hospice facilities – said medical back-up for Aids sufferers fell far short of the political promises. "My son had to go to London for treatment because we have no hospice care or proper facilities," said Mr Healy, who has pledged to continue the fight for better medical support for Aids sufferers and those who are diagnosed as Hiv positive.
At three years of age Gerard was diagnosed as haemophiliac. In the 1980s, as part of his regular treatment, Gerard received a contaminated blood product and consequently became Hiv positive.
"It was 1985, he came to me with the news. Very little was known about the disease but the general feeling was that it was fatal. We were devastated.
"This was the beginning of the end.
"No help or counselling was available or given, we were handed a death sentence there and then," Mr Healy remembered. Gerard, a 38-year old father of three, spent the remainder of his life campaigning for Aids sufferers and debunking the popular misconceptions.
He became a full time Aids counsellor "and was the first person to begin visiting the schools and prisons creating an awareness of Aids and Hiv," his father said. In London, Gerard helped found the Positively Irish Action on Aids organisation to support the many Irish people travelling to Britain for treatment and secondly, in Gerard's own words – "work on the only effective way of preventing further spread of the virus – education."
Back home Joe and Gerard were instrumental in the formation of the Cork Aids Alliance – a voluntary, educational and support group. Not long before his death Gerard had this to say – "I'm frightened of my own death, frightened of getting sick and being in bed waiting to die.
"I'm always a battler. but I'm frightened, very frightened.
"I say to anyone out there, if you know somebody who has Aids or is Hiv positive, support them and help them, because their life is hell."

'Slaves' surrender to life of
human bondage in Sneem

by Anne Lucey
The Sneem Welcome Home Festival reached its penultimate night with the annual slave auction late on Saturday night.
The auction which took place in the South Square of the famous Tidy Town winner, drew down 20 slaves from the North Square to the music of the djemba drums of African-European group Saboula.
Andrew Lloyd Weber who was visiting the area avoided capture. As did Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
The most famous slave on sale was Michael Healy Rae, the son of the Kilgarvan TD. He fetched £135.
Most lively slave was Joey Galvin, dressed as a woman, in a tight leopard skin dress.
"The person who'll have the pleasure of purchasing this slave will have a right handful," guest auctioneer Richard Hartnett informed the gathering.
Richard Hartnett is more often found in the Castleisland Mart and he was brought in specially for night.
Proceeds of the auction — which included the Spice Girls as well as Bill and Monica — went to the Sneem Community Centre.

If this is meant to be peace
I'd hate to see war

by Linda McGrory
Omagh
THE rain fell all day in Omagh, yesterday, as if in some act of mercy to wash the blood from the bomb-blasted streets. Clearly, however, from the look of the shattered faces around the town, no deluge could ever wash from the town's collective memory the series of carnage that reaped havoc on hundreds of innocent people going about their business on a normal busy shopping Saturday. Yesterday, the incident centre set up by the RUC at Omagh Leisure Centre was the scene of more heartbreak and angst as the full scale of the tragedy slowly emerged with every anguished face that came out of the incident room. Some were relieved that their loved ones had only sustained injuries, others were devastated and broke down before being taken to the town's morgue for a painful identification process of their family of friends.
The futility of words was evident as many shook their heads and said they could not find the words to describe what they knew in their hearts to be indescribable, unfathomable and quite simply unnecessary.
Others like civil servant Rodney Patterson wanted to talk to somebody, anybody in the hope that by the very expression, the words would in some way exorcise from his mind the pictures of total devastation that would no doubt be indelibly printed there for ever. "I just can't seem to get the picture out of my mind and I can still smell the burning of human flesh and hair," he said. "I'll just never forget it." Mr Patterson realised he was lucky to escape with a couple of cuts and bruises, although he said the blast deafened him in his right ear.
"I saw people running and screaming with blood running down their faces. One woman, I saw, had a big piece of glass lodged in the back of her head," he said. Among the people visiting the incident centre to find out about friends and neighbours were the sisters of Omagh-born accountant Kieran Corrithan, producer of the film The General and an executive with the IDA. He and his wife, RTE's Ingrid Miley, are on holidays with their children in Portugal. His sister Doreen Stevens said Kieran was trying to get through to them all day on Saturday, to find out if all his family in Omagh were okay, but the phone lines were down because of the blast, so he could not get through for ages. "Kieran was in a blind panic, it must have been terrible for them not knowing what was going on at home and hearing it on the news, so far away said Mrs Stevens. Brenda Duffy, another sister of the Merlin Pictures' director said they were lucky to have escaped the blast. "We were at home when the blast went off and nearly put our windows in. We went into the town centre and it looked like a scene from the Titanic — people in a panic, screaming and running everywhere.
"Some people were just lying there and couldn't move because their limbs had been blown off in the bomb," said Mrs Duffy.

Gaeltacht in danger, claims Údarás

by Kevin Barry
THE Gaeltacht is under threat with more and more young residents losing their command of the language, the chairman of Údarás na Gaeltachta has said.
Professor Gearóid O´ Tuathaigh said that the language base in the Gaeltacht is rapidly being eroded, particularly among younger people.
"It is obvious that the concern of many people, including experts, regarding the future of the Gaeltacht as a distinct language community is well-based," he said. Even in the strongest Gaeltacht areas, he added, "a pattern of language change" is continuing at a rapid rate.
Professor O´ Tuathaigh said that part of the blame for the trend must be laid at the door of the Government. "There is strong evidence to suggest that sections of the State public administration are ignorant of the necessity of placing the language requirement at the heart of every initiative undertaken in the Gaeltacht," he claimed. He said: "It is neither exaggeration nor scaremongering to state that there will be no genuine reason for talking in terms of Gaeltacht community in the language sense within the next generation."

Real IRA born out of
bitter split in SF

by Joe Oliver
THE Real IRA, known to republicans as the Super Provos, was born out of a bitter split in Sinn Féin ranks in Gweedore, Co Donegal, last November.
It is led by a Dundalk businessman who, for legal reasons, cannot be named.
But there is little doubt that the intention of the terror group is to plunge Northern Ireland back into a whirlwind of sectarian slaughter.
By doing so it hopes to prove that the IRA and Sinn Féin leadership cannot deliver an end to violence, and, at the same time, derail the Good Friday Agreement because it formalises the partition of Ireland.
The 49-year-old terror chief who leads the Real IRA, is a former quartermaster general in the Provisional IRA. He was ousted in Gweedore after he staged a failed coup of IRA members opposed to the faction led by Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
The terror chief controlled the Provos' network of arms dumps in the Republic and Northern Ireland and has persuaded a majority of the IRA's other quartermasters and its "engineers" to join him.
Insiders describe him as ruthless and uncompromising with "no qualms about what he is doing."
Intelligence sources put the strength of the Real IRA at about 200 — and growing.
They are strongest in the border areas of Counties Armagh and Louth.
And their growing ability to access large amounts of explosives and transport them to the centre of towns in Northern Ireland has caused real concern in security circles.
Repeated car bomb attacks on border towns had miraculously not caused any fatalities, but a scene of carnage and death like Omagh was bound to happen. Already this year the Real IRA has launched bombings in Markethill, Moira, Portadown and Banbridge.
Massive damage was done in each, with 500 pounds of explosives packed into cars parked in the centre of towns.
Other attempts at "spectaculars" have been foiled or aborted, including attempts to transport massive bombs to England.
In May, one of the Real IRA's members died in a shoot-out involving the gardaí.
Garda Special Branch were able to compile a dossier on their members as many, including their leader, who attended the funeral of Ronan MacLochlainn.
The leaders of its political wing, the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, include Michael McKevitt, a shop keeper from Co Louth, and his wife Bernadette Sands-McKevitt, sister of Bobby Sands, the IRA hunger striker who died in 1981.
Two other members of 32 County have been charged with possession of explosives over a consignment of nitrate fertilisers which was found at the sea port of Howth, Co Dublin en-route to Britain.
RUC intelligence officers have watched helplessly as the group quickly outstripped the Continuity IRA, another rebel group, and the INLA.
The fear is that Omagh, an oasis of peace throughout the Troubles of the past 30 years, could become the watershed for a new wave of blood-letting.
Former loyalist terror chiefs met in emergency session in Belfast, yesterday, to decide whether to continue their four-year ceasefire.
If they do return to violence it will forever shatter the peace process, just weeks away from the first release of terrorist prisoners from the Maze Prison.

Climb team's narrow escape from
hut blaze on Europe's highest peak

by Dan Collins
A TEAM of Irish climbers had a narrow escape on Europe's highest mountain when a fire razed a high altitude shelter to the ground.
The REHAB climb of the 18,500ft Elbrus in the Caucasus Mountains by a 10-strong Irish team led by Pat Falvey and Russian climber George Kukov, has been set back by the disaster at the shelter where the team were planning to acclimatise before their assault on the summit.
As the climbers arrived at the 13,500ft shelter the blaze was already out of control.
"Had we arrived 15 minutes earlier we could have been trapped inside," Falvey, speaking by satellite telephone, said yesterday.
With temperatures on the mountain down to minus 20 degrees Celsius, the team — which includes Cork climbers Joe O'Leary, Paul Dennehy and Gerry Walsh — were last night sleeping in makeshift shelters.
Two climbers on another team were injured in the fire, the cause of which was uncertain, and evacuated to a nearby clinic for urgent treatment.
The destruction of the high altitude shelter forced the Irish team to bivouac at 11,000 ft from which point they will make their final assault on the summit over the next few days.
"This incident has set us back and we are going to be very caught for time but everybody is in good shape and we hope to make the summit as planned," Falvey said.
Elbrus is a massive twin-summited dormant volcano lying just north of the main crest of the Caucacus Mountains. Although glaciated, the slopes of the peak are constant and relatively gentle, and the greatest difficulties lie in the peak's very high elevation and numerous crevasses.
Falvey made a winter ascent of Elbrus as part of his Seven Summits challenge during which he climbed Everest with his Russian climbing partner George Kukov.

The barbaric act which
wiped out three generations

by  Ray Ryan
THE bomb that rocked a nation wiped out three generations of one family with Co Cork roots, and even destroyed unborn life.
Lismire, near Kanturk, was in mourning, last night, with the Ahern family, who suffered a devastating blow when the bomb exploded on the Feast of the Assumption.
Mary Grimes (65), a retired nurse, her daughter, Avril Monaghan (30), a mother-of-four and expecting twins next month, and her 18-month-old daughter, Maura, were all killed in the blast.
Tearful locals were at a loss for words in Lismire, last night, to describe how the bomb blast nearly 200 miles away could have such a horrendous affect on a popular family and their community. Known in the area as Mary Ahern from Lismire, Mrs Grimes and her sister, Joan, trained as nurses and married two Grimes brothers, Jim and Brian, both farmers from near Omagh.
She went to live in Tyrone about 35 years ago and helped her husband Jim to run their farm. They had a family of 11, nine boys and two girls. But she kept up her links with Lismire, and was back home with her sister two weeks ago and attended Mass in St Joseph's Church, where the congregation first heard of her death, yesterday morning.
It later emerged that her daughter, Avril, and her daughter were also killed.
Her brother, Maurice Ahern, a farmer from Bawmore, near Kanturk, spoke last evening of the family's shock. Family members spent most of Saturday trying to get through to Omagh where telephone services were knocked out by the explosion.
They knew that Mrs Grimes and her family often went into Omagh shopping on Saturdays and feared they might have been there when the bomb went off. They eventually got through late on Saturday night to be told by a family member that Mrs Grimes, her daughter and grandaughter had gone into town earlier in the day and had not returned. Family members prayed and hoped overnight that the mother, daughter and grand-daughter would be found alive, but they heard the grim news early yesterday morning. Maurice Ahern said it came as a terrible shock to all the family, which was last night making plans to travel to Omagh and comfort their relatives and attend the funerals.
Neighbours and friends last night rallied around Mrs Grimes' brothers, Maurice, Con and Timmy, who live in the Lismire area, and her sisters, Lily Ahern (Lismire), Bridie Lane (Newmarket) and Theresa O'Sullivan (Glanmire) as they tried to come to terms with the tragedy. Another sister, Peggy Dwane, who resided in Mallow, had pre-deceased her.
One local said the entire community was shocked.
Gerard Murphy, Newmarket, a member and former chairman of Cork County Council, said people had all used words such as barbaric, savage and futile in the past to describe similar atrocities.
But these words had now taken on a new and more real meaning for the people of the area because the Aherns, a well-respected local family were the victims.
"The lunatics who placed this bomb have murdered one member of this family from each of three generations," he said, extending his sympathy to the Ahern family and all the victims of the tragedy.
Mr Murphy went on: "We all must act more decisively to rid our society of these senseless people.
"There must be no complacency, no refuge and no tolerance. We cannot tolerate this barbarism in our society."
Michael O'Callaghan, national president, United Farmers Association, who also sympathised with the Ahern family, said the scale of the massacre was too much for people to take in.
The bombing was a horrendous act which defied belief in a so-called civilised society, he said.
The Grimes family were too distressed to speak publicly of their loss and neighbours were reluctant to comment, but they were described the family as "solid" citizens.
Mr and Mrs Grimes attended Mass every day and Mr Grimes actively contributed to community projects.
Michael Monaghan was also too distraught to speak publicly.
His parish priest, Father Lawrence Dawson, said the community was stunned, but he hoped that with the help of friends and neighbours the family would be able to come through the devastating tragedy.
The Catholic Primate of All-Ireland, Archbishop Seán Brady, visited the Grimes family late yesterday afternoon and said they were devastated.
Mr Grimes's brother, James, was a priest in Whitecross, his archdiocese.
"The family are just totally devastated. They are just so shocked," the archbishop said.
People in Beragh last night spoke of Mary and Mick Grimes as a couple who were devoted to each other, to their family and supportive of their community.
"They're very good people," said one man who did not want to be named. "Very religious, very private. "Mick's a great man for the family. He had a big family and they're all around him now." Mary Grimes was quiet and hospitable.
"She was your typical farmer's wife," said another villager.
"She worked very hard and was always very nice. Would give you a cup of tea and something to eat whenever you'd call round.
"You would never have heard a word of complaint or argument from her, a very gentle person. It's a big loss, but he has great faith and maybe that will see him through this."
Meanwhile, a driver died, yesterday, after an ambulance transferring victims of the Omagh bomb was in collision with his car.
The accident happened on the Knock Road in Belfast shortly after 9.30 a.m., police said.
The victim was driving a Renault Megane which was in collision with an ambulance ferrying casualties from the bombing.

© Examiner Publications Ltd, 1998