Page 205 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

August 15, 2018, marked the 20th anniversary of
the event, and Omagh residents held a remembrance
ceremony to honor the victims. I contacted Vincent,
who lives in Omagh, to ask how the town is doing.
“There is an acceptance that after 20 years it is
time to move on from the awful event of the 15th of
August 1998,” Vincent said. “It will never be forgotten,
and for those bereaved and injured it will always be a
part of their lives.”
Vincent noted that the wound will never completely
heal because even though four perpetrators were
found legally liable in a civil trial, prosecutors could
never make a criminal case, so no one was ever
convicted.
He said, however, that “relations had always been
good in Omagh, and the event forged closer links as
people responded to its aftermath. This was particu-
larly true of the churches in the town.”
“The Omagh bomb marked a watershed and a
turning point away from violent means, such was the
revulsion to the atrocity in Ireland and throughout the
world,” he said.
Standing in the Omagh Memorial Garden I went
from plaque to plaque, reading the names of those
whose lives were stolen on that August day. But for a
chance decision made sixty years before I was born,
one of those names could have been mine, I realized.
What a marvel.
Northern Ireland, Omagh, Drumharvey – these were
places my great-grandfather left behind, and places
where relatives of mine still live their daily lives. And
while Vincent cleared up many questions regarding Opposite: Omagh, in County
my lineage, neither he nor I could answer the central Tyrone, was the site of the grisli-
one. Why did Ned Swift return to Ireland after nine est terror attack during the long
years in America, and then turn around and go back Troubles. On August 15, 1998, a car
to America fourteen years later? Even at the end of bomb exploded on a city street,
my Irish journey, Ned Swift remained a most enig- killing 29 people and injuring 220.
matic figure. And one I am grateful to. Omagh Memorial Garden, left, hon-
ors the victims.
Above: Proprietor Louis Kelly
stands in the doorway of Mul-
laghmore House, a Georgian
mansion that serves as a bed &
breakfast, top right. Kathie Burge,
the author’s inspiration, sips tea in
Mullaghmore’s dining room.

WINEDINEANDTRAVEL.COM 205