The State will oppose applications by two survivors of the 1998 Omagh bombing who are seeking to bring lawsuits aimed at compelling the Government to establish a public inquiry into the atrocity, the High Court has heard.
Emmet Tunney and Shawneen Conway say the Government is obliged to establish a public inquiry in circumstances where State authorities allegedly held “actionable intelligence” relating to the attack.
A total of 29 people, including Ms Conway’s 18-year-old brother Gareth and a woman pregnant with twins, died when a car bomb planted by the Real IRA exploded in the centre of the Co Tyrone town on August 15th, 1998.
The survivors, who are seeking to bring separate but similar cases, both point to a judgment of Northern Ireland’s High Court which found the British and Irish governments bore responsibilities “arising from the cross-Border nature of the attack and the intelligence failings that preceded it”.
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“The High Court in Northern Ireland found that there was a real prospect that fresh investigative measures could yield new and significant information regarding the atrocity, including the possibility of preventing it had certain intelligence been acted upon,” the survivors’ court papers state.
Their cases argue that a public inquiry is required to ensure an effective investigation of the atrocity. They allege the State’s failure to hold such an inquiry is a breach of their rights under the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
According to their court documents, article two of the ECHR requires an “effective, independent, prompt, and public” investigation in circumstances where state agents knew or ought to have known of a real and immediate risk to life.
Articles 40 and 41 of the Constitution require effective investigations of deaths involving potential State failures, their papers say.
An independent inquiry into the bombing, established by the UK government, opened in Omagh in January and is continuing. That inquiry is examining whether the atrocity could have been prevented by UK authorities.
Ms Conway and Mr Tunney say the Irish Government should hold a parallel inquiry.
In the High Court this week, Stephen Toal KC, for the survivors with Ruaidhrí Giblin BL and Karl McGuckin BL, moved an application seeking permission to bring the proceedings against the Government, Ireland and the Attorney General.
Mr Toal said the State had indicated it would be opposing their application seeking permission to bring the proceedings.
Ms Justice Mary Rose Gearty said she would hear Mr Toal’s applications for permission to bring the proceedings in early November. The judge said the State should be put on notice of the applications.
Mr Tunney, of Omagh, Co Tyrone, is represented in the action by Strabane-based firm Roche McBride Solicitors.
Ms Conway, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, is represented by Pa Duffy Solicitors in Dungannon.
