It is “likely” there was “some form of operational co-operation for the Omagh bombing” between the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, the inquiry into the atrocity has heard.
This was even though the leadership of the Real IRA were “the lead instigators of the attack”, lead counsel to the inquiry, Paul Greaney, said.
A total of 31 people, including unborn twins, died and hundreds were injured when a car bomb planted by the dissident republican group the Real IRA exploded in the centre of Omagh on August 15th, 1998.
On Tuesday morning, the public inquiry into the atrocity heard from John Morrison, an associate professor of criminology at Maynooth University and an expert on dissident republicanism.
RM Block
Outlining the split from the Provisional IRA (PIRA) that led to the formation of the Real IRA in 1997, he identified Michael McKevitt – who was one of four men found liable for the Omagh bombing by a civil court in 2009 – as the quartermaster general in the PIRA, and key to the formation of the Real IRA.
“Does the material you have had access to indicate that within a matter of weeks of leaving the Provisional IRA, Michael McKevitt had begun to develop a new paramilitary force [the Real IRA],” Greaney asked.
“Yes, it does,” Morrison agreed.
The inquiry heard that at the time of the Omagh bombing it was “a new group with a relatively small membership of up to 90 members” with approximately a third who would have been “violently active”.
However, it had “significant experience, expertise and access to weaponry within their membership to enable them to engage in extreme violence from the outset”.
The Real IRA’s objective, Morrison said, was “the destabilisation of the peace process”, and the inquiry heard an extract from one of two reports provided by the academic, in which he wrote McKevitt’s aim “was to pursue a strategically timed bombing campaign in Northern Ireland and Britain, and ultimately, seize back control of the Provisional IRA”.
The inquiry heard that sources indicated a man known by the alias Frank McGuinness was the Real IRA’s first chief of staff, McKevitt was quartermaster general and Liam Campbell – who was also among those found civilly liable for the Omagh bombing – was to be director of operations.
The sources indicated there was initial disagreement over tactics, with McGuinness “proposing attacking military targets” but Campbell “proposing a car bomb campaign and ultimately, the Real IRA sided with Liam Campbell’s approach”, Morrison said.
“Do the materials indicate that McGuinness believed that car bombs in towns were liable to kill innocent civilians?” lead counsel to the inquiry asked.
“Yes,” Morrison replied.
“As, of course, we know, tragically was to occur on the 15th of August 1998,” Greaney said.
“That is correct,” Morrison replied.
“But Liam Campbell argued in favour of a car bombing campaign?” asked Greaney.
“Yes,” Morrison said.
“Because the bombs were cheap and easy to manufacture and easy to transport … and he came out on top,” Greaney said.
The senior barrister read from reports by Morrison, in which he “observed that Liam Campbell developed an operational coalition with the Continuity IRA and the INLA”.
“That is correct,” Morrison replied. “It is reported that he even sought to develop an active service unit, which would bring together the Continuity IRA, INLA and the Real IRA, or members within them, to mount a campaign.”
The inquiry, which resumed on Monday in Belfast, also heard from expert witnesses on the forensic techniques available in 1997-98 and on mobile phone cell site analysis later on Tuesday.
The inquiry into the atrocity, which opened in 2024 under Alan Turnbull, was ordered by the UK government to examine whether the atrocity could reasonably have been prevented by British state authorities.
Its third chapter, which is expected to last five weeks, is examining how the bombing was carried out and who was responsible.
Its “working hypothesis … is that, at an organisational level, both the Real IRA and Continuity IRA planned and carried out the Omagh bombing”.
The inquiry continues.
