I will never forgive Omagh bombers, says mother of eight-year-old victim

The mother of an eight-year-old boy from Co Donegal killed in the Omagh bomb has told those responsible they will never be forgiven.

Oran Doherty was described as a “great funny wee boy and a real character” who dreamed of one day playing for Celtic Football Club, or becoming a shopkeeper.

He had been on a day trip with friends from his hometown Buncrana along with Spanish children to the Ulster American Folk Park.

They stopped in Omagh on the afternoon of August 15, 1998 to go to the shops when a Real IRA car bomb exploded causing devastation.

Some 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, were killed.

In a statement to the Omagh Bombing Inquiry, Oran’s mother Bernie said she wonders if those responsible for the bombing can sleep at night, adding she regrets that they have not been brought to justice.

She said she hopes and prays the inquiry can give those affected some answers around how the atrocity could have been prevented.

“As for the perpetrators, I think far too much time has been allowed to pass for us to get a chance to see them get what they deserved,” she said in her statement to the inquiry.

“If they are out there and listening, I want them to know they will never be forgiven for what they have done to my wee boy, and for the hurt and the pain they have caused my family and so many others.”

Mrs Doherty said all the family have of Oran was a jar of sweets he bought on the day he died.

She said her family had been so happy in April 1998 when the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was signed, and explained it to Oran as something that meant there would be no more shootings or bombings.

“Four months later Oran, who was only eight-years-old, was blown up in the Omagh bomb,” she said in her statement.

“Oran was the fifth child of seven. He was fun-loving, happy go lucky and he loved football. He also loved to go fishing with his daddy, his older brother and his friends. He had written one time that when he grew up he wanted to play for Celtic or be a shopkeeper.”

Mrs Doherty said she had been reluctant to let Oran go on the trip because of his age but said he had been so enthusiastic about going.

The family endured a long wait from hearing news of the bomb in Omagh on the Saturday afternoon before Oran’s death was confirmed to them at 7am on Sunday morning, her “worst nightmare come true”.

She described the Sunday as a “haze”, and seeing Oran’s body at a makeshift morgue.

The following day, she saw Oran’s coffin along with that of Shaun McLaughlin and James Barker, other young boys killed in the bomb, at a chapel of rest in Omagh.

“It was terrible, the sight of those three coffins, side by side,” she said.

Mrs Doherty also thanked all who supported her family, recalling the crowds of people standing with candles as they brought Oran home to Buncrana.

“It was incredibly moving,” she said.

Politicians, including then prime minister Tony Blair, UUP leader David Trimble and Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness came to the funeral.

“At different times, for example Oran’s birthday or Christmas, I get very angry at the thought of the people who did this,” she said.

“The people who did this should have been brought to justice.

“All of Oran’s friends are grown up now and have gone on to live their lives and I can’t help but wonder what Oran would be doing now, would he have settled down and had a family of his own, would he have played football, what job would he have been in.

“As for those people responsible, I do wonder if they can sleep in their beds at night given the absolutely carnage and devastation they caused for so many families with one act of cruelty.

“I have listened to and read all the excuses about the fact they didn’t mean to let the bomb go off at the time and in the place, and they didn’t expect anyone to be in the area at the time, I do not accept this and never will.

“If you’re prepared to transport a bomb of that magnitude into a crowded market town then you know exactly what could have happen.

“It was a despicable act inflicted on people of all ages and from both sides of the political divide, and all in the name of what.

“The Good Friday Agreement had been signed a matter of months earlier and people on this island finally had some hope of a peaceful future until these cowards literally blew it all away.”