A PROPOSAL to erect a £20,000 memorial outside the Clinton Centre in tribute to those who died in the Enniskillen bombing 30 years ago has been formally rejected by St. Michael’s Diocesan Trust. 
The plan by The Ely Centre, a victims group, to locate its memorial on private property on Belmore Street held by the Trust would pose “insurmountable problems,” it said.
Late last year it emerged that The Ely Centre proposed positioning the memorial at the site “without any consultation” with the owners or its tenant, Fermanagh University Partnership Board (FUPB). 
In November the memorial was placed in storage hours after it was unveiled at a moving remembrance event by Viscount Brookeborough outside the Clinton Centre.
Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) a spokesman for the Trust said it had given careful consideration to key questions such as public access, its obligations to its tenant, the ongoing upkeep, security and sustainability of the memorial and potential future public works in the area. 
“These considerations have made it manifestly clear that the sheer size and scale of the proposed memorial pose insurmountable problems in terms of access at the proposed site,” he said. 
The spokesman said given the Trust’s obligations to FUPB and the forthcoming re-development of the Clinton Centre, together with the visual and aesthetic considerations of such a large structure, also render “this an unsuitable site for this memorial.”
“It should be clear from the foregoing that the Trust is not in a position to sanction the siting of this memorial as proposed. We are happy that the re-developed Clinton Centre will include a memorial to the victims of the Enniskillen bombing and the Trust hopes that a suitable location for the Ely Centre memorial will be found. 
“St. Michael’s Diocesan Trust and the Christian community it represents, will continue to assist in whatever way it can to further the continuing work for peace and reconciliation so that all the families of those affected by the Enniskillen bombing and the wider Northern Ireland conflict can find the healing they need and deserve,” said the spokesman. 
“Let us be very clear,” he added, “The Trust has no objection to a permanent memorial being erected to the victims of the Enniskillen bombing.”