Restriction Order for Commemorative Hearings

Restriction Order for the Commemorative and Personal Statement Hearings Pursuant to Section 19 of the Inquiries Act 2005

The Chairman has the power under section 19 of the Inquiries Act 2005 (“the Act”) to make orders restricting disclosure or publication of evidence and documents given, produced or provided to the Inquiry.

Any threat to break such an order, or any breach of it, can be certified to the High Court or Court of Session under section 36 of the Act, which will deal with it as though the breach had occurred in proceedings before that court, and may be punishable by a fine or committal to prison.

IT IS ORDERED THAT:

• This Order applies to the evidence listed to be heard at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh between 28 January and 20 February 2025 and shall otherwise be referred to as the ‘Commemorative Hearings’.
• This Order remains in force for the duration of the Inquiry and at all times thereafter, unless otherwise ordered.
• The Chairman of the Inquiry may vary or revoke this Order by making a further order during the course of the Inquiry.

Statements

• Pursuant to the Protocol for the Commemorative and Personal Statement Hearings (1), the Chairman has received witness statements from those who wish to commemorate their family members who died in the Omagh Bombing on 15 August 1998 as well as from those who wish to share their own account and experience of the bombing.”
• Unless express permission is given by the Chairman of the Inquiry, or the Solicitor to the Inquiry acting on his behalf, due to their personal contents, the statements of witnesses who give oral evidence, or whose account is read, during the Commemorative Hearings shall not be published on the Inquiry’s website. The transcript of the oral evidence shall be published on the Inquiry’s website.
• Where the statement maker has indicated that, due to the personal nature of their statement, they do not wish the contents of the statement to be disclosed to Core Participants or the wider public, the Chairman shall treat those statements as confidential.
• Any such confidential statements shall only be available to the Chairman and
  members of the Inquiry team. The contents of these statements shall not be referred to during the Commemorative Hearings and will not otherwise be made public. A list, by reference number, of the confidential statements received by the Inquiry is set out in Annex A to this Order.
• Where the witness requests it and the Chairman considers it is appropriate to do so, an anonymised summary of a confidential statement may be read during the course of the Commemorative Hearings.

Transcripts

• During the Commemorative Hearings there shall be a transcript of the evidence published on the Inquiry’s website at the end of each hearing day.
• Where any inadvertent publication of irrelevant and sensitive material occurs during the course of the Commemorative Hearings, the published transcript of the hearing shall be edited to redact this information.
• A record of the edits made to the transcript shall be retained by the Inquiry as Annex B to this Restriction Order which will, as necessary, be updated during the course of the Commemorative Hearings. The disclosure or publication of any of this redacted information is expressly prohibited by this Order.

YouTube Broadcast

• During the Commemorative Hearings, there shall be a broadcast of the oral evidence on the Inquiry’s YouTube channel, along with the opening and closing remarks of the Chairman and of Counsel to the Inquiry.
• Where the Chairman is satisfied that permitting the broadcast of the evidence of a witness may impair the efficiency or effectiveness of the inquiry, the evidence of a named witness shall not be broadcast. The names of any such witnesses shall be listed in Annex C to this Order.
• Due to the personal and sensitive content of the evidence to be heard, the broadcast of the oral evidence of the Commemorative Hearings on YouTube shall be subject to a 3-minute delay. The YouTube broadcast shall not be available on a playback facility.
• Unless express permission is given by the Chairman of the Inquiry, or the Solicitor to the Inquiry acting on his behalf, any evidence given to the Inquiry during the Commemorative Hearings must be kept confidential and must not be disclosed, published or reported on in any form unless and until such evidence is broadcast on the time-delayed YouTube broadcast and/or a transcript published on the Inquiry’s website.
• Any information that is redacted from the time-delayed feed and/or the transcript of proceedings must not be repeated, disclosed or duplicated to any third party.
• To ensure compliance with this Order:
  • No contemporaneous reporting, including Tweeting and other forms of live blogging, shall be permitted from the hearing room. Any such reporting can be conducted from the media annex at the Strule Arts Centre which shall have the delayed YouTube broadcast.
  • No photographs are to be taken or recordings made (whether visual or audio) in the hearing room during the Commemorative and Personal Statement Hearings, save as provided for by paragraph 12.

Evidence

• Subject to the views of the witness concerned and unless express permission is given by the Chairman of the Inquiry, or the Solicitor to the Inquiry acting on his behalf, to minimise intrusion into grief and the sensitive nature of the evidence to be heard, any materials displayed during the Commemorative Hearings shall not be published on the Inquiry’s website. This shall include photos, videos and other materials.

Penal notice

• The High Court and the Court of Session have the power to imprison or fine for any breach this Order.
• Any breach of this Order by any means whatsoever shall be notified in writing to the Solicitor to the Inquiry immediately upon identification of the breach.

Rt. Hon. Lord Turnbull
Inquiry Chairman
20 January 2025
Revised 30 January 2025