The Ulster Unionist Party’s Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP, Tom Elliott, has voiced his frustration that 29 years after the event, the families of those murdered by the Provisional IRA in the Enniskillen Remembrance Day bomb in 1987 are still striving for Justice.

Mr Elliott said;

“We are coming up to the 29th Anniversary of the Enniskillen Bomb where 11 people were killed and 63 injured, with a 12th victim dying in 2000, and yet we are still waiting for justice or an investigation worthy of the name. The families were promised a report from the now defunct Historical Enquiries Team years ago, but to date there has been nothing forthcoming. Just last year we heard that a police investigation into the 1987 Poppy Day bomb had no officers working on it, which no doubt came as a huge hammer blow to the families who are still striving for justice. With the inception of the Legacy Investigation Branch it does not appear that the prospect of any new inquiry or investigation is on the horizon. 

“It is as incredible as it is unacceptable, that millions upon millions of pounds have been spent on different legacy inquiries and investigations in Northern Ireland, yet there is not one single investigative officer deployed to look into the 1987 Enniskillen Bomb. With around 20 officers investigating the events of Bloody Sunday in 1972, many will believe there is disparity when it comes to investigating the past in Northern Ireland. This process has been frankly shambolic, and I have highlighted this on many occasions. Back in September I pleaded in the House of Commons for the Government to address legacy issues in Northern Ireland such as Enniskillen and Teebane. The UK Government has a duty to attend to the needs of innocent victims of terrorism.

“The 1987 Enniskillen Bomb, and the 1992 Teebane bombings are just two of many terrorist massacres carried out in Northern Ireland and we owe it to the victims to strive and push for justice.

“The many years of waiting for justice has been hugely frustrating and painful, and we cannot continue to bypass the needs of victims and their families. We are now supposed to live in a peaceful society, and there needs to be new found maturity and honesty in order to meet the needs of victims.”