A PRELIMINARY hearing of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry got underway at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh this morning.
It is the first hearing to be held by the Inquiry which is being led by Lord Alan Turnbull.
First announced in February 2023, the Inquiry is intended to establish the preventability of the Real IRA bombing in August 1998, which killed 29 people and two unborn children, and injured 220 others.
In his opening statements today Lord Turnbull claimed his inquiry would “guard its independence jealously” and would not be diverted from establishing whether the bombing could have been prevented.
The preliminary hearing is one of the first steps in a public inquiry and will “set the direction of the Inquiry” a spokesperson for the Inquiry said.
“It allows the Chairman to consider procedural issues relating to the conduct of future public hearings and the Inquiry’s investigation,” they added.