Vol. 480 No. 6
84 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the new material, if any, which has emerged over the past 18 months in relation to Bloody Sunday; the discussions, if any, which have taken place with the British Government in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14710/97]
A substantial volume of material has emerged recently which has cast the events of Bloody Sunday in a new light. Much attention has focused on the civilian eyewitness statements which were recorded shortly after the events and which were published earlier this year by Mr. Don Mullan in Eyewitness Bloody Sunday, the Truth. The account of events as described in great detail and with compelling clarity by civilian eyewitnesses is dramatically at variance with that presented in the British Government's official version, presented by Lord Widgery in April 1972 in his report on the tribunal of inquiry. Additionally, other information, some of which has been available for some time and some of which has only recently emerged, combined to support the version of events offered by the civilian eyewitnesses.
It should be noted that care must be exercised in the use of the term ‘new' material. In many crucial instances, it is the fact of the material being ‘old' which gives it its devastating force as a critique of the Widgery report. Much of this material was in fact available at the time of the Widgery Tribunal, but was not considered properly by it.
The material in question includes eyewitness accounts from 1972 and, more recently, the emergence of very significant archival material, fresh insights into the role and activity of the British Army at the time and new ballistics and medical evidence. All of this, combined with a reexamination of the contents of the Widgery report itself, was considered in detail in the course of the Government's assessment of the new material prepared earlier this year.
As the Deputy is aware, this assessment was handed over to the British authorities on 24 June last. Since then, there has been ongoing contact between both sides through the framework of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. I discussed the issue both at the Anglo-Irish Summit meeting of 3 July 1997 and at the meeting of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference of 18 July last with the Secretary of State and was assured that there would be no undue delay by the British Government in giving their response to the emergence of the new material and our assessment of its significance.
