Seven people died in a fire in Lammy, Omagh, in November last year, five children and their parents. The fire was in all probability started by the father of the family after a row with his partner, after she packed her bags and threatened to leave him. The full horror of what the victims went through is not known, what is known, is that this incident did not come out of the blue. Therefore the conclusion of Henry Toner QC's report that somehow the tragedy was not predictable is at least contestable. Arthur McElhill was a convicted sex-offender, with a particular appetite for teenage girls. His partner was only 15 when she fell pregnant to him for the first time, and his two attack victims were teenage girls. There was an 'at risk' teenager staying at his home, and his daughter Caroline was phoning police concerned about rows between him and her mother. He had a record of depression and on a number of occasions in the far past had indicated that he was suicidal. Though it is easy with twenty twenty hind-sight to see that these features were pointing to the tragedy - it can be said with some certainty that the prospects of something sinister happening - a tragedy of some proportion - was well sign posted.

The report may have been rather generous in giving the Western Trust a gap to slip through, but the matter is not at an end yet.

Following the incident we observed that there was a very obvious diving for cover by the various agencies, and it is only natural for people whose careers may be jeopardised and who themselves may be going through a great deal of personal anguish, to try to side-step responsibility. The danger, however, is that, if seven people can burn to death in what many believe was a preventable tragedy, and those who could have protected them but didn't, simply dust themselves down and walk away, there is nothing to prevent it happening again.

Simply saying lessons were learned is not enough. How many tragedies have there been in these isles from which 'lessons were learned'? How many more people must die for more lessons to be learned by people who should have known the lessons in the first place?

Social Services face a huge task in terms of its need to re-build public confidence, there is no doubt that the incident and the independent report will have delivered a severe blow, and those measures required to instil new confidence must be inspired and effective. Let's not learn any more lessons this way.