Busloads from Tyrone attend Noah Donohoe support rally

A LARGE number of people from the Omagh area attended a massive protest rally in Belfast in support of Noah Donohoe’s family on Saturday.

Thousands of people from across the North attended the protest in Belfast, which was against the Secretary of State’s decision to grant a PSNI application to withhold some information from an inquest into the death of the teenager.

People from Omagh and the surrounding areas travelled up on buses, and via cars, to the protest.

Speakers included People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll, North Belfast MP John Finucane, and Noah’s mother Fiona, who is originally from Strabane.

Fiona, supported by her sisters Niamh and Shona, were greeted at City Hall with a sea of blue-and-white ‘Noah 14’ jerseys, blue smoke and placards.

The chants of ‘tell the truth’ and ‘we’re not going away’ reverberated around Belfast city centre.

Addressing the thousands in attendance, an overwhelmed, but resolute, Fiona said, “We are grateful to every single person who came to stand here in this heat today for Noah. I think we’re all making a statement today.

“The Secretary of State and the Coroner have to take today on board – we are Noah’s voice. We see on our social media every day the support that we have, but to see people come out today – this is Noah’s army.”

Raymond Barr, an Independent Councillor in Strabane, who attended the protest, said that he spoke to people from the Omagh area, and praised them for their attendance.

Cllr Barr said, “I spoke to a lot of people from Omagh and the surrounding villages on Saturday. I know there was a busload of people from the town, and even more travelled up in their cars, and via public transport.

“The day went well, and the crowd behaved excellently. We will continue to take the lead from the Donohoe family, and will endeavour to help as much as we can in their fight for justice.”

Noah Donohoe had just turned 14 when his body was found in a storm drain in north Belfast in June 2020, six days after he went missing. His mother, Fiona, has held a campaign ever since to find out what happened to her son.