Dissident republican Colm Murphy “sat like a spider at the centre of the web of the plan to detonate a bomb in Omagh”, the inquiry into the 1998 atrocity was told on Monday.
More than 10 “key individuals” were identified by the lead counsel to the inquiry, Paul Greaney, who outlined a “working hypothesis” that they played “significant” roles in the bombing.
These included Murphy, former Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, and Seamus Daly and Liam Campbell – both convicted of Real IRA membership – who were all found liable for the bombing in a civil court, as well as Seamus McKenna, who was found not liable. Murphy, McKevitt and McKenna have since died.
“Our working hypothesis is that, contrary to that finding, he, Seamus McKenna, played a key role,” Greaney said.
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“There are sound reasons to believe that Seamus Daly was in the scout car with a mobile telephone ... quite possibly accompanied by at least one other person and that his job was to keep in contact with the bomb car, alerting the occupants of that vehicle to any issues on the route ahead.
“Furthermore, there are sound reasons to believe that Seamus McKenna was in the bomb car with a mobile telephone ... accompanied by another man,” Greaney said.
The Real IRA “was responsible for the bombing” but, in light of a claim originating from McKevitt that it had been a joint operation with the Continuity IRA, “the working hypothesis ... is that, at an organisational level, both the Real IRA and Continuity IRA planned and carried out the Omagh bombing.”
A total of 31 people, including unborn twins, died and hundreds were injured when a car bomb planted by the Real IRA exploded in the centre of Omagh on August 15th, 1998.
The inquiry into the atrocity, which opened in 2024 under Alan Turnbull, was ordered by the UK government to examine whether the bombing could reasonably have been prevented by British state authorities.
Last year it heard emotional and graphic testimony from the relatives of the victims, the injured and others present on the day of the bombing, including the emergency services.
Its third chapter, which opened on Monday after a six-month delay, will examine how the bombing was carried out and who was responsible.
It will hear from forensic and other expert witnesses and police and British army officers, as well as a pre-recorded statement of evidence from a senior Garda detective, which is expected to be heard later this week.
In his introductory remarks on Monday, Greaney gave an outline of the material to be explored in this chapter of the inquiry, including the theft of the bomb car in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, and a “test run” over the Border the day before the bombing.
It also included a detailed plotting of phone calls from multiple individuals believed to be involved in the atrocity, which is based on cell tower data. The inquiry watched a graphic tracing the progress of the “bomb car” and “scout car” to Omagh and back across the Border after the explosion.
The senior barrister also gave an update on the disclosure of Irish material to the inquiry, revealing that 756 documents, comprising more than 40,000 pages, had been disclosed to the inquiry’s core participants as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Government of Ireland.
At a hearing earlier this year, the “state of disclosure of material from the Republic of Ireland” was given as one of the reasons for the six-month delay to the opening of Chapter Three.
However, Greaney on Monday said there should be “no doubts about whether the Government of Ireland has provided substantial disclosure to the inquiry. It has.”
He also said core members of the inquiry team had been able to read “sensitive” Irish Government material.
“The inquiry legal team is grateful for this disclosure from the Government of Ireland,” Greaney said, adding that it “provides the basis for significant portions of the evidence” that will be heard in this stage of the process.
“The inquiry legal team believes a relationship of meaningful co-operation has developed between the inquiry and the Government of Ireland.”
The inquiry continues.
