Town comes together to remember its darkest day 25 years on

A short memorial service was held at the site in Omagh where 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, died in a Real IRA bombing in 1998.

Kevin Skeldon, whose wife Philomena died in the Omagh atrocity, lays flowers at the site of the bombing to mark the 25th anniversary (Liam McBurney/PA) (PA Wire)

Some of those who lined the narrow Market Street in Omagh were not even born when a Real IRA bomb brought devastation to the Co Tyrone town a quarter of a century ago.

The organisers of the event to mark 25 years since the atrocity which caused the greatest loss of life of any incident of Northern Ireland’s troubled past, had planned a low key event.

Instead the street was packed with many, young and old, who wanted to pay their respects and show their support for the families.

Following a private service in the town’s library, the relatives of some of those bereaved in the Real IRA bombing walked the short distance to the glass obelisk which marks the spot which changed Omagh forever.

One by one, they laid single white roses at the foot of the memorial monument before Rev Canon Robert Clarke and Father Eugene Hasson, the co-chairs of the Omagh Churches Forum led them in prayer before they observed a moment of silence.

The dignified silence could not have provided a starker contrast with the mayhem unleashed upon the town 25 years ago, when a massive car bomb cost 29 lives, including a woman pregnant with twins.

Rev Clarke and Father Hasson have shared the journey of the victims’ families over the years. They were in the town on the day of the bombing and they led the families to the obelisk to undertake the short ceremony of remembrance.

Father Hasson said: “We were here in Omagh 25 years ago. I find it very hard to believe that 25 years have passed.

“We feel that we are very much with the people here. I certainly feel that they are with me.”

Rev Clarke added: “The unreality of it, even as I stand here today, it sort of kicks in. Could anybody do that sort of a thing? The unfairness of it.

“It was just very cruel.”

Market Street in Omagh is close to unrecognisable from how it was in 1998. In the bustling town centre business continued as usual with shops trading while the memorial ceremony took place.

However, the hurt does not go away and the memories will last forever.

Among the floral tributes at the obelisk lay one to Esther Gibson, a Sunday school teacher who was preparing for her wedding when she died in the massacre.

The accompanying message read: “Brutally murdered by IRA terrorists. Always loved. Never forgotten.”