Omagh inquiry holds first hearing on killing of 29 in dissident republican car bombing

July 30 (UPI) -- A long-awaited public inquiry into the 1998 Omagh car bombing in Northern Ireland, the worst atrocity of the so-called "Troubles" in the U.K. province, got underway Tuesday after a decades-long battle by relatives of the 29 people killed and 220 injured.

The names of those who died in the Aug. 15 attack were read out at the town's Strule Arts Center after which a minute's silence was observed.

Chairman Lord Alan Turnbull was expected to set out the remit and scope of the inquiry which will try to get the bottom of whether British and Irish intelligence and security agencies could have prevented the attack by the Real IRA, a dissident offshoot of the Irish Republican Army, just four months after the Good Friday peace agreement.

However, it will not seek to find those responsible despite no one ever being convicted in a criminal court -- a situation complicated by a court ruling that legislation passed last year granting immunity to people with information about killings and woundings during the Troubles breaches survivors' human rights.

"Today is hugely significant -- it's hopefully the beginning of the end, as a bereaved parent I have done all that I can and the families are just totally exhausted," Michael Gallagher , who lost his 21-year-old son in the bombing, told the BBC.

He said bereaved families, for whom Tuesday was the first time they had all come together , including those from Spain caught up in the blast, needed answers for what he said was "the largest security and intelligence failure in the history of Northern Ireland and there needs to be answers as to what went wrong."

"There's no doubt it will be difficult and not just difficult for us, but it will also be difficult and embarrassing for the British government and the Irish government because both states have failed us."

The Irish government is involved because it was a cross-border attack by Real IRA paramilitaries operating out of the Irish Republic and while it has pledged to assist the inquiry it has consistently rejected calls for a joint investigation or to hold its own inquiry.

The South East Fermanagh Foundation victims' advocacy group criticized Dublin saying it could have allowed Lord Turnball to hold hearings in the Irish capital with the power to subpoena witnesses and documents.

The group's director, Kenny Donaldson, warned that an "honorable and just outcome" to the inquiry was impossible without the ability to compel witnesses from both countries to testify.

The criticism was echoed by an Ulster Unionist member of the Northern Ireland legislative assembly, Doug Beattie.

"What must never be forgotten is that the Omagh bomb was built, armed and transported from the Irish Republic to be detonated in Northern Ireland by the Real IRA. Blame ultimately lies with all those who perpetrated this atrocity. But the Irish government must be challenged on their lack of a genuine commitment to look at Omagh," he said.

The Fine Gael administration of Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris dispatched a representative to Tuesday's preliminary hearing after accepting an invitation from Lord Turnbull earlier this month but has yet to set out how what it called a "complex process that involves working with another jurisdiction" would operate.

"Officials will now explore a memo of understanding for the State's engagement with this upcoming inquiry," said a spokesman.

Foreign Minister Micheal Martin had previously pledged that Dublin would do "everything possible" to assist amid ongoing discussions between foreign affairs and justice department officials and the inquiry on exactly how the Irish state will engage.

Inquiry barrister Paul Greaney KC said the inquiry was "grateful" for the Irish government's commitment and that he hoped a written agreement would soon follow to "make certain the inquiry has full access to any relevant materials and has the ability to obtain statements and call witnesses."

The preliminary stages of the independent statutory inquiry, which was announced in February 2023 two years after the High Court found plausible arguments that the tragedy could have been prevented, will go on through January when evidence and witness testimony will be heard.