The public inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing gets under way today with its first hearing.
It was set up by the British Government in response to a 2021 court ruling which found there was a plausible argument that the State could have acted to stop it.
In particular, the court raised concerns about the handling and sharing of intelligence.
Its aim is to establish whether the Real IRA bombing, the single biggest atrocity of the Troubles, could have been averted.
The dissident republican bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone town on 15 August 1998, killing 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.
The victims included 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 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.
Today’s hearing in Omagh is a preliminary one. It will consider procedural issues relating to the conduct of the inquiry’s investigation and hearings.
No witnesses will be called and no evidence will be presented at today’s proceedings.
Members of the public can attend and the hearing will be streamed on the inquiry’s website.
The inquiry is working with a trauma counselling service to provide support for victims and survivors during the hearings.
Some of the bereaved families have called for decades for a public inquiry into alleged security failings.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the atrocity, said the hearing will be the first time since 1998 that all of the bereaved families, including those caught up in the blast from Spain, will come together.
Survivors are also expected to gather at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh for the hearing which will include opening remarks from the chair and counsel to the chair, Paul Greaney KC.
Commemorative and personal statements are set to be made during inquiry hearings next January.
Earlier this month the Irish Government formally agreed to provide assistance to the inquiry.
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