The UK government has ordered an independent inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has confirmed he intends to establish the inquiry in response to a court judgment that directed the government to establish some form of investigation.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died in the Real IRA bombing, took the legal challenge that resulted in the judge directing the state to act.
The dissident republican bomb exploded in the Tyrone town on 15 August 1998, killing 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.
It also claimed the lives of three Buncrana boys and two Spanish visitors to the town.
Eight-year-old Oran Doherty and two twelve-year-olds, Shaun McLaughlin and James Barker, were on a group trip to Omagh in 1998 when they were caught in the blast.
Spanish exchange student Fernando Blasco Baselga, 12, and group leader Rocio Abad Ramous, 23, who were staying in Inishowen, also got caught in the bombing. Hundreds more were injured.
Mr Heaton-Harris explained that he had listened to representations of those families affected by the atrocity alongside other factors, including its independence, cost to public purse and how best to “allay wider public concern”.
Speaking in the UK House of Commons, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “I intend to establish an independent statutory inquiry into the Omagh bombing.
“I have informed Mr Gallagher and members of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, as well as representatives of Families Moving On of this decision.
“The inquiry will focus specifically on the four grounds which the court held as giving rise to plausible arguments that the bombing could have been prevented.
“The inquiry will also need to take account of the findings of previous investigations to avoid duplication.”
Mr Heaton-Harris said he accepted this is a “significant” decision.
“I have considered important factors such as the independence of any future investigation, the costs to the public purse and how best to allay wider public concern.
“I have weighed these up against the clear findings set out by the court, which we must meet for any investigation to be effective and compliant with our international obligations, and which are at the core of my decision.
In 2021, a High Court judge recommended that the UK government should carry out a human rights-compliant investigation into alleged security failings in the lead-up to the attack.
Mr Justice Horner found that it was potentially plausible the attack could have been prevented.
His ruling came after a legal challenge by a bereaved family member against the government’s refusal to hold a public inquiry.
The judge also recommended that the Irish Government establish its own investigation.