Omagh bomb campaigner to receive award
A father whose son was killed in the Omagh bomb is to receive an international award for his efforts to give a voice to victims of terrorism.
Michael Gallagher, who lost his 21-year-old son Aiden in the Real IRA atrocity 11 years ago, has been recognised for his subsequent campaign for justice by the International Centre for Victims of Terrorism in Spain.
Accompanied by his wife Patsy, he will pick up the award for Memory, Dignity and Justice in Madrid tomorrow in the city’s San Pablo CEU university, where the centre is based.
Mr Gallagher has been at the forefront of the Omagh families’ long quest to catch those responsible for killing 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injuring hundreds of others in the car bomb attack in the Co Tyrone town in August 1998.
While no one has been successfully prosecuted for the outrage in the criminal courts, earlier this year relatives won a landmark multi-million pound civil action against four men they accused of carrying out the bombing.
Mr Gallagher, who was the unanimous choice of the university’s board of trustees, said the award was in recognition of all the families’ efforts.
“This is a great honour not just for myself but for all those families who have had the courage to stand up and demand justice over many difficult years,” he said.
“We thank Spain for its support and encouragement. Spain is completely different in its attitude to terrorism to Britain and Ireland – it has a very strong view on terrorists and has decided not to negotiate with them.
“As a consequence the voice of victims is very strong there and they are held in much higher esteem in civic society and within government than in Britain and Ireland.”
The families continue to press the UK and Irish governments to hold an independent public inquiry amid claims the security forces had information that could have prevented the attack.
