The importance of people being allowed to tell their own stories

The past four weeks of the Personal and Commemorative Hearings at the Omagh Bombing Inquiry have provided a poignant platform for the families of the 31 victims of the 1998 Market Street tragedy.

These hearings have allowed families to reflect on their loved ones, sharing happy memories, life plans, and the moments that brought them to Omagh that fateful day.

Hopefully, the task of preparing the pen-portraits will have been one of healing for many who have borne the heaviest crosses since that dreadful day in 1998.

For most, this was the first time they had been able to officially tell the life stories of their relatives, taken so suddenly and brutally.

Statistics show that almost 300 people suffered physically that day.

Many more have been affected mentally over the 26 years.

A small fraction of them felt empowered to attend the inquiry and recount their harrowing memories of the immediate aftermath of an event that changed their lives and the lives of so many others.

Each day of the past four weeks has brought a roller-coaster of emotions.

All of those in attendance at the Strule Arts Centre, and those who may have been watching remotely, were touched by the sheer power of the stories and the bravery of those telling them.

It has taken this public inquiry to lay bare the impact of the Omagh bombing on the ordinary people, the relatives of the dead, injured, and those affected physically or emotionally.

That process has taken 26 years.

Maybe it’s better this way. Maybe the stories we have heard in the past four weeks – and many of them for the very first time – could only be told now, many years later.

We in the wider community will hope that, whatever happens as this public inquiry continues, the telling of those stories provides consolation and solace for all those still affected so devastatingly by the events of August 15, 1998.