The only member of the Assembly to lose a relative in the Omagh bombing, Mr Oliver Gibson of the DUP, spoke in yesterday's discussion on the atrocity.
Mr Gibson, whose niece died in the bombing, paid tribute to all those who dealt with the immediate aftermath of the atrocity, and he assured the Assembly that Omagh would be re-built. Highlighting the long-term effects of the bomb attack, the assemblyman for West Tyrone spoke of those who have been "maimed, disfigured and mentally and physically scared" by the explosion. "Esther Gibson is dead and buried but her boyfriend is left behind," he added.
The Omagh bomb had "internationalised terror", with the tragedy touching people from Spain and "another jurisdiction". The DUP Assembly man asked "the South of Ireland to become a mature political state" and destroy those behind the bombing. Mr Gibson also held up a copy of the Belfast Agreement to the Assembly and questioned its "relevance" to a grieving family.