Liam Campbell: Council reverses Omagh suspect motion

The Omagh bomb killed 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has reversed a motion opposing the extradition of a man held liable for the Omagh bomb.

Liam Campbell, from Dundalk, is wanted in Lithuania over allegations he was part of an operation to buy guns and bombs for the Real IRA.

In early July, the council's policy committee had voted to oppose his extradition.

On Thursday, the motion failed to get ratification from the full council.

Instead, a counter motion passed calling for the extradition to proceed.

Claire Monteith, who lost her brother Alan Radford in the Omagh bomb, said the initial move to oppose Mr Campbell's extradition had been "brutally insensitive".

"This was being driven though by the council representing the area affected, which meant I and other victims were being forced to support it," she said.

She added that she was "extremely relieved" it had failed.

In 2009, Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly were found responsible for the bombing in a landmark civil trial

The Omagh bomb is the worst single atrocity during almost 30 years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

No-one has ever been convicted of the 1998 dissident republican attack that killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

In June 2009, Liam Campbell was found liable, along with convicted Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt, for the Omagh bombing.

That verdict followed a landmark civil action brought by relatives of some of those killed in the atrocity.

'Dustbin of history'

At the committee meeting held earlier this month, DUP and Ulster Unionist councillors voted against independent councillor Bernice Swift's motion opposing the extradition.

But it passed with support with the support of SDLP, Sinn Féin and others.

The SDLP later said it would reverse its decision and apologised to relatives of the Omagh bomb victims.

For the motion to take effect it needed the ratification of full council.

At Thursday's full council meeting the majority of members voted against the motion being discussed.

Ulster Unionist councillor Robert Irvine proposed the motion be sent back to the policy and resources committee.

It passed with the support of 29 councillors, with six against and one abstention.

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Those opposed to returning the motion to committee, included four Sinn Féin members.

An Ulster Unionist counter-motion calling for the speeding-up of the extradition passed with the support of 20 councillors, with two voting against and 15 abstentions.

Ulster Unionist councillor Victor Warrington told councillors he hoped "this will consign this whole sorry episode to the dustbin of history where it belongs".

Meanwhile, a motion also went before Derry and Strabane District Council on Thursday opposing Mr Campbell's extradition.

It was proposed by independent councillor Gary Donnelly, but failed to pass after it was rejected by SDLP and unionist councillors.

Sinn Féin abstained after an attempt to amend the motion failed.