Northern Irish policeman murdered in dissident bomb attack in Omagh

Seanomelbourne – Just as you have a right to free speech, the men and women who join the PSNI ALSO have a free choice. You are right, the underlying cause of bombings is still present; its people just like you, who use terms such as PSNI/RUC, and thus lend legitimacy to antidemocratic groups who prefer bombs and kneecappings to the rule of law.

@seanomelbourne - re your remark 2he same old Orange culture is still in control" it may help to further the discussion if you were to expand on that particular view, in terms of your reason for saying that. As it stands your observation is somewhat of a "throwaway" statement!!

Dan I was born in Dublin and exercising my right to free speech.You prefer to sink into a tirade of abuse.Sirpeter did not condone or condemn the killing of the police officer,but the underlying cause of bombings in the north is still present.And for you to portray the PSNI/RUC as a credible force is disingenuous.The same old Orange culture is still in control.

@sirpeter - despite the partial temptation to agree with you, I have to come down on the side of the saying "Two wrongs dont make a right!!"

As I said already I don't condone this killing. I think it was wrong.I support the peace process and I hope these killings stop.I don't support the RIRA or the CIRA. But I will say one thing,we all want to move forward away from the past,but not at the expense of distorting the fact's about the past as alot of people do here. The RIRA are the product of 20 generations of terrible injustice in NI. They are the children who watched their father's been beaten and murdered in a statelet that used brute force to keep them down if anyone stood up against that statelet. While we can't condone the actions of these people,surly we can understand that they were not born that way, that everyone of us is only a product of what we were thought and how we were treated. Maybe they are more to be pitied then condemned.There but for the grace of God go I.

@Kilsally - "Exactly!!"

Words cannot describe my disgust at this cowardly and nonsensical act of murder. All of us, of every persuasion and ever philosphy, need to do everything we can to root out these murderers, whoever they are, and whatever they stand for, because this island will not be dragged back to the terror of the past. My deepest sympathies to the family of Ronan Kerr, and to the people of Omagh who seem never to escape these ongoing tragedies.

the dissident `brits out` philosophy is pie in the sky. as the late David Ervine (of UVF / PUP who was born, bred and raised in Northern Ireland) said: "I AM the British presence here, and I'm not withdrawing anywhere."

@sirpeter - Lets not you and I (or anyone else for that matter) kid ourselves. The dogs in the street could have told you years ago that this moment would arrive. The present agreements in place to politically govern the six counties are there by the democratic will of the people living in the six counties. There is lauchpad for political pursuance of an increasingly Federated and (hopefully one day) United Ireland. The small "rump" of disconnected souls who for reasons only known to themselves are still trying to "reach the future through the past" are telling the rest of us what they are about; which is one of two things; 1) that they are stupid, blind and short sighted, with no vision for the future for their country or for the community from which they come. 2) that they are in fact FASCISTS who are pursuing the line "We're right, you're wrong - get over it!!" If its the former then its clear they are going nowhere, politically at least. In the sophisticated Ireland of today, a political analysis which amounts to nothing more than "Brits Out" wont wash; the Party you supported as I once did have accepted that. If it is the latter, then they are taking on both the Irish Nation and its Diaspora across the world who have long since rejected Fascism, and spilled blood both in Ireland, and across the world in doing so!!

Seanomelbourne – If Irish men and women choose to join the PSNI, who are you on the other side of the world to say they should not? The PSNI are the legitimate law enforcement body in that part of Ireland, would you rather that law enforcement was left in the hands of antidemocratic bombers and gunmen?

@seanomelbourne `has not changed the anti Irish culture in that organisation.It's about Ireland ` ...such as what? It is staffed almost entirely by Northern Irish people, it has GAA and football teams, what more do you want? what dont the PSNI do that the Garda do that makes the PSNI `anti-Irish?` jamthecat@ ..because the Loyalist paramilitaries are all but gone and bacause the dissidents have a habit of targeting Catholic officers - they killed and claimed responsibility for Stephen Carroll two years ago, days after killing two soldiers at the Antrim army barracks (who were due to go to Afghanistan the next day) along with injuring their `british collaborator` polish pizza deliveryman. They shot and injured a catholic officer in Dungannon who had just dropped his kid of at school a couple year back (he managed to drive away whilst shot) and this time last year they set off another under car bomb and a GAA playing Catholic officer Peadar Heffron @sirpeter "of any ACTIVE forums where I can find out what the Loyalist Paramilitaries are thinking?" No because they all support he peace process and have no reason to exist as the constitutional position of NI is parked. Any remainders have if they werent already turned to crime gangs and drug dealers.

mamaginnty – I know it was Mothers Day, and you probably overdid the oul’ Baileys 'n Ice, but you must really resist the urge to post such utter nonsense. What the f*** did the Britsih Army have to do with Omagh? And is it really appropriate to raise the Dublin and Monaghan allegations just now? Who the f*** else would be behind this cowardly killing than antidemocratic elements of so-called dissident republicans? MamaG…The Bankers have f***ed the country, our youth are packing suitcases, even the queen of England is a-coming, that’s the present and the future…car bombs, CIRA, and the rest should be left where they belong, in the past. Pray for all of us, and pray you can let go of your anti-unionist, Anglophobic bitterness and bigotry.

This was a terrible thing to happen to the young man, I pray for his family. There are quite a few catholics now working with the NIP. No one has claimed responsibility, of course dissident republicans are always mentioned. The Omagh tragedy in the nineties, it has only been released lately after all these years that the British army had something to do with that bombing. Also the bombings in Dublin and Monaghan. So many things are only coming to light now.

I'm curious -- has any "dissident Republican" group taken responsibility for this murder? Because in the past some bombings that were blamed on the IRA and its affiliates later turned out to have actually been carried out by Unionist groups...going back as far as 1966. So if no one's taken responsibility for it, then how do they know it was it Catholic on Catholic murder? Why is that the automatic assumption? Protestants have been just as vicious, if not more-so, when dealing with Catholics.

Horrible. Anybody who cares about Ireland should take every opportunity to condemn these fanatics and their idiotic supporters.