What happened in Omagh?

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What happened in Omagh? An introduction to Irish
history for Year 7
by Nicky Peart Ashfield School Ireland in
Schools NPS University of Nottingham
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Menu

• Lesson 1 Aims What happened in Omagh?
• Slideshow What is Ireland like?
• What descriptive words would you use to
  describe Ireland? Why are there troubles in
  Ireland?
• Omagh What happened?
• An Omagh Remembrance - A poem by John Friel
• How do the people of Omagh feel?
• An Omagh Remembrance - A poem by John Friel
• Lesson 2 Aims What happened in Omagh?
• Discussion Preparation
• How do the people of Ireland feel about Omagh,
  and react?
• Gwen Halls open letter to the 'Real' IRA from
  her hospital bed
• Discussion Preparation
• Questions
• Lesson 3 Aims Discussion - What happened in
  Omagh?
• Discussion lessons How do they work?
• Map Northern Ireland

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What happened in Omagh?

• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To see the reactions.
• To see the background.

Lesson 1
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What is Ireland like?

• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To see the reactions.
• To see the background.

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• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To see the reactions.
• To see the background.

What descriptive words would you use to describe
Ireland?
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• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To see the reactions.
• To see the background.

Why are there troubles in Ireland?
Since the 1600s Protestants and Catholics have
been fighting over who should run Ireland. In
1921 the country was divided in to the Republic
of Ireland, which was Catholic, and Northern
Ireland, which was Protestant. However, this did
not solve the problem and the fighting still
continued. In Easter 1998 both sides agreed to
be peaceful, on August 15 1998 28 people were
killed in Omagh, Northern Ireland. Why did it
happen?
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• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To see the reactions.
• To see the background.

Omagh What happened?
An Omagh Remembrance - A poem by John Friel One
Saturday in Omagh in busy Market StreetWhere
locals and shoppers would regularly meetThey
talked and laughed about things in the pastThen
suddenly they were silenced by a deafening
blast. Concrete and glass spilled onto the
streetAnd innocent people fell to their
feetWater pipes burst and so started a
floodThose who talked and laughed were covered
in blood Emergency services were there straight
awayTo help injured people on that tragic
dayAll those who helped were courageous and
braveThere were twenty nine people whom they
could not save.
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• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To see the reactions.
• To see the background.

An Omagh Remembrance - A poem by John
Friel Families cried as their dead had been
namedOthers were traumatized, injured and
maimedThe people who live there were terrified
and shockedAs the centre of Omagh was violently
rocked. How much is enough and where will it
endThe killing of innocent families and
friends?Look at the damage, what have they
done?A mother weeps for her dying son. This is
the violence which everyone loathesThe dead only
wanted to buy food or clothesSome went with
friends, others went aloneThese twenty nine
people are not coming home. Put aside your
differences, hatred and fearsFor the people of
Omagh as they cry endless tears.Our sympathies
are with you and with you we prayFor peace in
our province and violence to go away.
How do the people of Omagh feel?
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What happened in Omagh? Discussion Preparation

• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To prepare questions.
• To see reactions.

Lesson 2
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• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To prepare questions.
• To see reactions.

A few days later, Gwen Hall wrote an open letter
to the 'Real' IRA from her hospital bed. To be
bold lads who ripped the heart out of Omagh I
will probably never know who you are - but you
know. I'll tell you who I am. My name is Gwen. I
am the mother of Alastair who is the bravest
person I know. We and all the other victims of
your ambush last Saturday would like to know
'why?'. I went to Hell and back lying injured in
the debris and water and blood not knowing if my
12 year old son was alive or dead. By God's grace
he survived and that is why I am lying here able
to write. I wish you could have heard that child
crying inconsolably yesterday as he struggled
with the pain from his severed limb. That was
what ripped at my heart. However, we are two of
the lucky ones, for which I thank God. We do have
a future. You may have broken the bodies of the
people of Omagh, but you can never break their
spirit. The last line of one of my favourite
songs is - "God is watching us...from a
distance." You can run but you cannot hide. On
behalf of the people of Omagh - the bereaved,
injured and anyone else affected.
How do the people of Ireland feel about
Omagh? How do they react?
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• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To prepare questions.
• To see reactions.

Discussion Preparation
You have a worksheet with a list of questions
about Omagh and the troubles in Ireland. You
have the rest of the lesson to prepare the
answers to the questions in bullet points. You
do not need to have the same answers as the
person next to you. Its your opinions that we
want.
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Prepare all the questions below for the
discussion next lesson.
1. What is Ireland like as a country? 2. What
happened at Omagh? 3. Why did the bombing
happen? 4. What were the reactions of the people
of Omagh? 5. What effect does a bombing have on a
community? 6. How can events like Omagh be
stopped? 7. What events, like Omagh, have
happened in your lifetime? 8. Would you go and
live in Ireland? Why?
Lesson 2
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What happened in Omagh? Discussion

• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To take part in a discussion.

Lesson 3
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• Aims
• To analyse an event.
• To take part in a discussion.

• The rules of a discussion lesson.
• Only one person speaks at a time.
• We respect everyones opinions.
• Everyone will have the chance to speak.
• The teacher is the chair of the discussion. They
  will ask the questions, but will only comment to
  correct information.
• So how does this discussion work?
• Every person in the room is given a playing
  card. The teacher has the same playing cards as
  the students. The teacher will shuffle their
  cards and take the card off the top of the pile.
  The person in the room with the same card will
  answer the question.
• Remember to concentrate. Your card could come
  out of the pile at any time, and it could come
  out more than once.

Discussion lessons How do they work?
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