In August 1998, as all of Ireland prepared to vote for peace in the Good Friday referendum, a small group of dissident Provisional IRA members opposed to the peace process were setting out to create a bomb outrage so bloody and calamitous that London and Dublin would be driven apart, unionists would withdraw from the peace process and Northern Ireland would be driven back into violent conflict.

They called themselves the Real IRA.  Selecting their target carefully, they chose Omagh, a small market town where Catholics and Protestants had co-existed remarkably peacefully throughout the 30 years of the Troubles. The bomb claimed 31 lives, devastating a small town and leaving a lasting legacy.

Omagh examines the events and aftermath of this tragic day, focusing on the struggle for justice by the Omagh Self Help and Support Group (comprising the families of the victims) as they strive to find the truth.  Throughout the last five years, they have been pursuing a patient, determined and indomitable campaign to bring those responsible for the bomb to justice and to hold to account politicians and police on both sides of the border, who promised so much in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity, but who delivered too little.Their ongoing campaign drives the film, and is the source of its legitimacy.

Interwoven with this and at the heart of the story is Michael Gallagher, who lost his 21-year-old

son Aiden in the explosion.  The film shows his family’s private trauma and journey towards recovery and Michael’s public struggle as key spokesman and lobbyist for the Support Group.

Omagh tells Northern Ireland’s bloody history from the point of view of the innocent who are its true victims.  It shows ordinary people refusing to be beaten by forging enduring relationships across nation class and religion, and standing as a living monument to those who died.

“We speak for the victims of the troubles, of whatever tradition.  On behalf of the victims of terror wherever it occurs.  We will not be quiet.  We will not go away.  We will not be forgotten.”

Running time
106 minutes

Starring
Gerard McSorley
Michelle Forbes
Brenda Fricker

Directed by Pete Travis (Henry VIII, Other People’s Children)

Written by Guy Hibbert and Paul Greengrass (Bourne Supremacy, Bloody Sunday)

Produced by Ed Guiney and Paul Greengrass.

A Channel 4 presentation in association with Bord Scannan Na H’Eirann/ The Irish Film Board, RTE and Portman Film.  A Hell’s Kitchen/ Tiger Aspect production.

Winner of the Discovery Award, Toronto Film Festival

Winner of the Jury Award for Best Screenplay, San Sebastian Film Festival

Official Selection, Dinard Film Festival