Editing Omagh bombing (section)

=== Omagh memorial ===
[[File:Omagh Bomb Memorial (23), January 2010.JPG|thumb|upright|right|Omagh Memorial at the bomb site]]
In late 1999, [[Omagh District Council]] established the Omagh Memorial Working Group to devise a permanent memorial to the bombing victims.<ref name="city" /> Its members come from both public and private sectors alongside representatives from the Omagh Churches Forum and members of the victims' families.<ref name="city" /> The chief executive of the Omagh Council, John McKinney, stated in March 2000 that, "we are working towards a memorial. It is a very sensitive issue."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/669967.stm|title=Omagh bereaved 'not let down'|work=BBC News|date=8 March 2000|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref> In April 2007, the council announced the launch of a public art design competition by the Omagh Memorial Working Group.<ref name="city">{{cite press release|url=http://www.omagh.gov.uk/the_council/press_releases/item.php?id=396|title=Design Competition Launched for Omagh Bomb Memorial|publisher=Omagh District Council|date=17 April 2007|access-date=18 February 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920122545/http://www.omagh.gov.uk/the_council/press_releases/item.php?id=396|archive-date=20 September 2008}}</ref> The group's goal was to create a permanent memorial in time for the tenth anniversary of the bombing on 15 August 2008.<ref name="city" /><ref name="memorial" /> It had a total budget of £240,000.<ref name="city" />

Since space for a monument on Market Street itself is limited, the final memorial was to be split between the actual bombing site and the temporary Memorial Garden about 300 metres away.<ref name="light">{{cite news|url=http://www.seanhillen.com/Fintan_O%27Toole_I_Times_2.htm|title=A monument that casts a human light|first=Fintan|last=O'Toole|work=Irish Times|date=22 September 2007|access-date=18 February 2009|archive-date=4 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704052838/http://www.seanhillen.com/Fintan_O%27Toole_I_Times_2.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Artist Sean Hillen and architect Desmond Fitzgerald won the contest with a design that, in the words of the ''Irish Times'', "centres on that most primal yet mobile of elements: light."<ref name="light" /> A heliostat mirror was to be placed in the memorial park tracking the sun in order to project a constant beam of sunlight onto 31 small mirrors, each etched with the name of a victim.<ref name="memorial" /><ref name="light" /> All the mirrors were then to bounce the light onto a heart-shaped crystal within an [[obelisk]] pillar that stands at the bomb site.<ref name="memorial" /><ref name="light" />

In September 2007, the Omagh Council's proposed wording on a memorial plaque – "dissident republican car bomb" – brought it into conflict with several of the victims' families.<ref name="memorial">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6999827.stm|title=Omagh memorial in inscription row|work=BBC News|date=18 September 2007|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref> Michael Gallagher has stated that "there can be no ambiguity over what happened on 15 August 1998, and no dancing around words can distract from the truth."<ref name="memorial" /> The Council appointed an independent mediator in an attempt to reach an agreement with those families.<ref name="memorial" /><ref>However, the controversy as to the proper framing of the public commemoration of the Omagh bombing, lives on – see the article "[https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/01/09/news/council-to-consider-action-over-new-plaque-on-omagh-bomb-memorial-1524203/ Council to consider action over new plaque on Omagh bomb memoria] l" of 9 January 2019, as published in [[The Irish News]] website (retrieved 24 May 2019)</ref> Construction started on the memorial on 27 July 2008.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/omagh-memorial-lifted-into-place-1-1873025|title=Omagh memorial lifted into place|work=News Letter|date=28 July 2008|access-date=1 August 2008}}</ref>

On 15 August 2008, a memorial service was held in Omagh.<ref name=marks>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/aug/15/northernireland.uksecurity|title=Omagh marks 10th anniversary of deadly bombing|first=Rachel|last=Stevenson|work=The Guardian|date=15 August 2008|access-date=18 February 2009}}</ref> Senior government representatives from the UK, the Republic of Ireland and the [[Stormont Assembly]] were present, along with relatives of many of the victims.<ref name=marks /> A number of bereaved families, however, boycotted the service and held their own service the following Sunday.<ref name=marks /> They argued that the [[Sinn Féin]]-dominated Omagh council would not acknowledge that [[Irish Republicanism|republicans]] were responsible for the bombing.<ref name=marks />

A memorial service was held on 15 August 2018 to mark twenty years since the bombing. A bell was rung 32 times at 15:10, the time the bomb went off, to represent the 31 victims with an extra peal for those who have lost their lives in attacks all over the world.<ref name="20th year memorial service">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-45144511|title=Omagh bomb: Bell tolls to mark 20th anniversary|date=15 August 2018}}</ref> A memorial service was also held on 13 August 2023 to mark the 25th anniversary of the bombing.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66486029 |title=Omagh bomb: Memorial service marking 25th anniversary |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=13 August 2023 |accessdate=13 August 2023}}</ref>