Sir, - While I was at home last Saturday, my wife and six-year-old daughter were in Belfast shopping for a school uniform. At around 3 p.m. I heard the news of the bomb attack in Omagh town. On her return my wife told me that our daughter had expressed delight at seeing the "French flags" along the streets and "French colours" painted on the kerbstones, together with a picture of a musketeer on a wall (a mural of King Billy). Her innocence was amusing to my wife until I told her the awful news.
But what do I tell my little girl? When do I tell her that by living in Northern Ireland that our family may be at risk? Her comments on that dreadful day made me realise that soon I will have to tell her the truth. I just wonder whether or not I will be talking about Omagh or some future atrocity yet to take place. Personally speaking, I have heard nothing in the hours since the attack that would give me confidence that this will not happen again. - Yours, etc., Marc Murphy,
Cranmore Park,
Belfast 9.