The new hearing stage, scheduled to run for several weeks, will examine how the Omagh bombing was carried out and who was responsible, revisiting both pre‑attack planning and post‑attack actions.
Counsel for the inquiry, Nick de la Poer KC, said the legal team has been given access to a wide array of material, including summaries of factual evidence compiled by the inquiry, diagrams of key individuals, analyses from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, video footage of the likely bomb‑car route, photographs of suspects and witness statements.
De la Poer cautioned that identifying someone as a “key individual” in the inquiry’s working hypothesis does not automatically mean they were involved in terrorist activity, and he asked whether the hearings would display images of individuals already found liable alongside those merely suspected.
The inquiry, set up after the 1998 attack that killed 29 people, has been probing security failures and the planning of the bombing. This phase aims to clarify the chain of events and pinpoint accountability, with the newly reviewed evidence expected to shape any future legal or political outcomes.
Legal observers note that the manner in which suspects are presented could influence public perception and any subsequent prosecutions, making de la Poer’s question a focal point for the weeks of testimony ahead.