The Taoiseach joined children from Omagh today to make a millennium wish for long-term peace in Northern Ireland. Youngsters from the County Tyrone town devastated by last year's blast which killed twenty-nine people, were in Dublin to present Bertie Ahern with a flame from the Omagh Beacon, lit at the launch of the Northern Ireland millennium festival in September. The Taoiseach will use a light from the flame to ignite candles at the open-air millennium concert in Dublin on New Year's eve.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Ahern condemned the bomb hoax that closed Kempton Park racecourse last weekend following a reported bomb threat from the Continuity IRA hard-line Republican paramilitary faction. He warned that the threat from such organisations had not gone away and pledged continuing security efforts to track down any organisation attempting to bring down the Northern Ireland Peace Process through violence. Mr Ahern said that there is still a small hardcore of people who do not want to see peace succeed. It is important, he added, that security continues.
