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Belfast — The inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing has resumed its latest public hearings in Belfast this week, with senior counsel outlining a working hypothesis that two dissident republican groups jointly planned and carried out the attack that killed 29 people. As of February 28, 2026, the proceedings are focusing on the period immediately before and after the bombing, after a six-month delay.
Paul Greaney KC, lead counsel to the Omagh Bombing Inquiry, told the tribunal that evidence will centre on a coordinated operation by the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA. The attack on the County Tyrone border town was the deadliest single incident of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Greaney said a tight-knit group of "experienced terrorists" was responsible and was "motivated by a desire not to get caught." He said the inquiry will examine both the organisational planning and the logistics of the bombing, including how a stolen car was prepared and moved through the border region.
The inquiry, chaired by Lord Turnbull, was established by the previous UK government to determine whether security forces could have prevented the bombing. It is not a criminal trial, but its findings may carry legal, political and historical consequences.
The phrase "joint enterprise" has particular resonance in UK and Irish legal contexts, and its use in the inquiry's framework suggests the panel is prepared to consider the two organisations' roles together rather than treat the plot as the work of only one faction.
Greaney said claims of responsibility after the attack were directed to journalists at RTÉ and the Irish News, and that evidence pointed to the Real IRA as the primary actor. But, he told the inquiry, "that is the start, not the end." Counsel drew attention to reports from David Rupert, a combined FBI and MI5 informant embedded in dissident republican circles, who said the bombing was a "joint operation" also involving the Continuity IRA.
Greaney said Rupert's information came from Michael McKevitt, the late Real IRA leader who was later found civilly liable for the bombing. The working hypothesis, the barrister said, is that "at an organisational level, both the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA planned and carried out the Omagh bombing." Telecommunications records and mobile phone evidence will play a key role in testing that proposition.
The inquiry heard that in the early hours of August 13, 1998, a Vauxhall Cavalier was stolen from Carrickmacross, County Monaghan. Greaney said the car was taken "effectively to order" and chosen for use as a bomb carrier. He said witness evidence suggested three other similar cars on or near the same street had been interfered with that night, apparently as decoys or backup vehicles.
The car was then moved to Dundalk, a border town identified by counsel as the "home town and base of operations" for several key figures under scrutiny. It was made available to Seamus Daly, who had previously been found liable for the bombing in a civil case, and false number plates were quickly fitted.
Greaney described the use of cloned number plates as standard practice among dissident republican cells in the late 1990s. By making a stolen car appear legitimate, he said, the plotters reduced the risk that a police stop would reveal its status as stolen. "This tactic, the tactic of using cloned number plates, was part of the terrorist tradecraft. Those transporting bombs would wish to attract as little attention as possible," he told the tribunal.
The inquiry heard that two cars were used on the day of the bombing. Greaney said there were "sound reasons" to believe Seamus Daly drove a scout car that led the bomb car into Omagh, while the late Séamus McKenna was in the Vauxhall carrying the device. Using a two-car convoy gave the group a quick escape route after the bomb was left.
Greaney also identified Colm Murphy, who died in 2023, as a central figure in the plot. In vivid terms, he described Murphy as sitting "like a spider at the centre of the web" of the Omagh plan. Murphy had previously been found liable for the bombing in a civil action.
The barrister said those behind the attack had been "engaged in a campaign of violence" for months beforehand. He repeated to the panel: "They were experienced terrorists, and they were motivated by a desire not to be caught."
Victims' relatives welcomed the new phase of hearings but expressed frustration at the lack of cooperation from authorities in the Republic of Ireland.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the blast, said the inquiry needs to examine "the nitty gritty" of the final days before the bombing. He urged gardaí to share all evidence they hold. "We just hope in the end we will get truth and dignity out of this process," he said.
Claire Hayes, whose brother Alan Radford was killed, said the hearings have been "a long time coming." She noted that 28 years after the attack, there has been "very little engagement from the south of Ireland" and called on police in the Republic to pass on all available knowledge.
Later this week, the inquiry is expected to hear a pre-recorded statement from a senior Garda officer about the theft of the car used in the explosion. Last year, the inquiry heard emotional personal statements from survivors and relatives during an earlier phase.
The current hearings, which began after a six-month pause, are scheduled to examine the attack's planning, the bomb's construction, and the movements of suspects before and after the blast. The inquiry's legal team will also test the reliability of informant evidence and security force intelligence.
The legal distinction matters: if the inquiry formally concludes that the Real IRA and Continuity IRA acted as joint planners, then responsibility for the massacre may be shared across a broader network than previously acknowledged. That would also deepen pressure on authorities in the Republic of Ireland to explain what their security and intelligence services knew before the bomb was carried across the border.
The inquiry continues, with further evidence expected from both sides of the Irish border. Victims' families remain watching as the panel pieces together one of the darkest days in Northern Ireland's history.
