- The visiting Young Ambassadors take a moment during a visit to the USS Intrepid Air and space Museum.
Two teenagers who each lost a family member in the Omagh bombing were in New York recently as part of the "Young Ambassadors" program.
One of the pair, Oisin Doherty, 17, lost his 8-year-old brother, Oran, in the 1998 Real IRA bombing. He was joined by 14-year-old Keelan Dillon, who is Oisin's uncle, despite being three years younger.
The teens, who are both from Buncrana in County Donegal, joined other teenagers who lost relatives in other conflicts around the world. All of the group took a ride on the Hudson on a new $50 million NYFD fire boat, named "343" after the number of firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11.
The Irish duo also visited the United Nations headquarters, where they toured the Irish mission to the world body.
Oisin and Keelan were joined by the spokesperson for the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, Michael Gallagher, who lost his son, Aidan, in the bombing.
Gallagher said that the teen pair "had the time of their lives, it's something they will remember forever."
Gallagher is the subject of the award-winning Paul Greengrass directed film, "Omagh," and was instrumental in the suing of four of the bombing suspects. Two of them won on appeal last year and the lawsuit is due to be reheard next October.
The Real IRA, which opposed the Provisional IRA cease-fire at the time, admitted that it carried out the atrocity and apologized to the victims.
The Young Ambassadors program consists of young people ages 14-18 who lost a parent or immediate family in a terrorist attack. The participants will meet young people from various countries who have been through similar experiences. They spend a week touring New York, meeting with community and political leaders, and sharing their stories,
Omagh Support and Self Help Group was founded after the Omagh bombing which killed 31 people, including unborn twins, and injured hundreds. It currently supports 220 members affected by the Troubles.
