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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 30 Jun 2010

Vol. 714 No. 1

Saville Inquiry Report: Motion

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

remembering all of those who were killed and injured on Bloody Sunday in Derry on 30 January 1972, and all of those who have suffered over many years as a result of that day;

noting the further injustice perpetrated by the flawed and discredited report of the Widgery inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday;

commending the families' long and difficult campaign for truth which in 1998 convinced the British Government to establish the Saville inquiry;

recalling the support of successive Irish Governments and all parties for the families' campaign for truth;

welcomes the publication and conclusions of Lord Saville's Report on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry;

welcomes the clear conclusion that all of those killed and injured on Bloody Sunday were innocent;

commends Prime Minister David Cameron for his response to the report and his generous apology to the families;

recalls that many families suffered as a result of acts of violence, from all sides, and acknowledges the ongoing pain and suffering of all of those bereaved and injured as a result of the conflict;

expresses the hope that the report's findings, the Prime Minister's statement and the response of the families of the victims and the people of Derry, will help heal all those families and others touched by the terrible events of that day;

and

reaffirms its commitment to building peace and reconciliation on this island and between these islands.

I wish to speak on the agreed motion on the Saville inquiry report before the House. I wish to acknowledge the presence of some Blood Sunday family members in the Gallery and welcome them here to our proceedings.

On Tuesday, 15 June 2010, the report of the Saville inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday was published. It was a day of many emotions: joy tinged with sorrow, relief and surprise. It was a day of generosity and of vindication and, I believe, it was a day of healing.

Bloody Sunday was one of the darkest days in the history of this island and in the relationship between the peoples of these islands. I believe and hope that we will look back at the day the Saville report was published as being one of the brighter days in that long relationship.

There was widespread sympathy for the families of those killed and injured but this time there was also some joy — sympathy for the terrible loss that the families and the people of Derry have borne for 38 years, and joy at the lifting of the black cloud that had wrongly been cast over the names of innocent men and women.

When Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the House of Commons, he acknowledged that the events on Bloody Sunday were both "unjustified and unjustifiable". The reaction in the Guildhall Square was heartfelt applause. When he said that on behalf of his country he was "deeply sorry", that applause grew even louder. The applause in Derry for the brave and honest words of the Prime Minister in the House of Commons was confirmation that the truth had been set free for the families of the dead and injured. It was a historic moment, observed around the world.

On the afternoon of Sunday, 30 January 1972, thousands of men and women set off from the Creggan in Derry on a peaceful civil rights march. Thirteen men and boys did not come home that night. They were shot dead. Fifteen men and women were injured and one of those injured men, John Johnston, died only a few months later of his injuries. Those deaths and injuries took place on the streets of Derry in the space of just one hour. The images, on television screens and in the newspapers, of what happened that day shocked and horrified the people of this nation. The then Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, spoke of the nation's reaction to those terrible events in Derry. He said that "grief and sympathy were hardly ever more sincerely felt, nor more widespread in this country". In the days after Bloody Sunday, the entire nation mourned.

On 16 June 2010, I was honoured that some family members travelled to Dublin to meet me, as Taoiseach, on the day after the publication of the report. I offered them my best wishes on behalf of the entire nation. They were exhausted after a very long and difficult day but they were also elated. They presented me with a copy of the report for which they had waited so long. I was pleased and humbled to accept that report, and their gracious thanks, in recognition of the role played by successive Governments and all parties in this House in bringing that long wait to an end.

Today's motion is a further act of solidarity by all the parties in this House with the Bloody Sunday families and the people of Derry. I am delighted that representatives of the families are here with us today.

On the day the report was published, even in a moment of deep personal emotion for the families in Derry, they had the generosity of spirit to call for a minute's silence for all those who had died during the conflict. They have known and lived with the pain of losing a loved one. They know that far too many families across these islands suffered that pain during those dark years of conflict. The pain and loss inflicted during the Troubles did not end at the graveside. For those who suffered injuries during the Troubles, their physical wounds may have improved but they live with their scars.

The catalogue of murders and attacks, from all sides, is too long to recount here today. The suffering inflicted on ordinary people, on all sides, is too great to comprehend. It is also too great to forget. That is the terrible legacy of the Troubles. As a society, we have to confront it. As we do, we take inspiration from the families of those killed and from those who have been injured — from the tremendous dignity and bravery which these victims of unjustified violence have displayed in the face of unimaginable suffering. What all these people have lost no one can return. We owe them the assurance that the painful lessons of the past have been learned and that the suffering they have endured will not be visited on future generations. This is not a simple thing. Moving forward is not an event. It is a continuing challenge to everyone, and a call to leadership. We cannot allow such pain ever again to revisit the island of Ireland. Now is a time to heal and to move forward to a shared future.

Out of the dark years of the Troubles we have come to a new, shared idea of relationships on this island and between these islands. The Good Friday Agreement is at the heart of our new understandings, it has opened up new opportunities for us to get to know each other in new ways. It has opened up new possibilities, new perspectives around our shared history. We will explore that shared history on many occasions over the decade ahead. It is a decade which will see the anniversaries of events which have dominated the history of this island for over 100 years — the Ulster Covenant, the Great War, the Easter Rising, Independence and Partition — difficult and often tragic years, a time of division but also a time of optimism and of change. We must take the opportunity of new relationships on this island to rebuild understanding over this decade of commemorations. Just as the Bloody Sunday families came from the darkness of the past into the light of Guildhall Square, that should be the case for all on this island.

For the Bloody Sunday families, the scars and the pain of their unspeakable loss were made worse by the inquiry chaired by Lord Widgery which blackened the names of innocent men. The campaign to repudiate the Widgery report's status as the official version of events lasted 38 years. It ended on 15 June. The families can now say that the world knows that their loved ones are innocent and that their killings were unjustified and unjustifiable. The years since 1972 have been long and difficult for the families and their supporters, but they never wavered.

It has been a privilege for me to meet with relatives of those killed and injured on Bloody Sunday, a privilege I know is shared by many other Members of the House. Hearing them describe how their lives were forever changed by the tragedy of that day, of the loss they carry with them still, it is impossible not to be moved. It is impossible too not to be impressed by their commitment, quiet dignity, patience and steadfast determination, evident over the decades, to clear their relatives' names, to right the historic wrong that was the Widgery tribunal.

The publication of Lord Saville's report is a vindication of these great efforts to have the truth told. The Bloody Sunday families did not need to be told that their loved ones were innocent. They knew. In this House, we did not need to be told that their loved ones were innocent. We knew that too. The Saville inquiry was vital because the world needed to know and needed to be told that those who died and were injured on Bloody Sunday were innocent. Now, as the families said outside the Guildhall on that momentous day, that innocence has been proclaimed to the world. The inquiry lasted 12 years. Members of the families of those killed and injured were present for every single day that the inquiry sat. They listened to testimony that brought back terrible memories of that dreadful day but they felt that they owed it to their loved ones to be present. The report of the Saville inquiry is a very long and detailed document. I pay tribute to Lord Saville for his careful deliberation.

Even now, the detail of the inquiry's report remains to be fully digested by the families and their representatives. It needs to be carefully examined by the appropriate authorities in the North and in Britain. Until such time as it is, we should, I think, refrain from extensive comment on it but, even at this point, it is worth observing the extent to which the inquiry has both stimulated public understanding of the events of that day and opened up discussion on the history of the conflict more generally.

Several inquiries into other events from the Troubles have been undertaken or are under way and many other families are still searching for the truth about their loved ones. The formal and complicated process of legal inquiry does not suit every situation. Different models and approaches may be required to recognise particular circumstances and best meet victims' needs. The PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team and the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland offer such approaches and I believe that their work has also been a source of comfort and solace to many families.

Understanding the consequences of the violence which blighted this island needs no legal investigation. The consequences are there to be seen in the damaged bodies and damaged families of too many neighbours and friends. It knows no religious divide — suffering is no respecter of creed or age — but it reminds us of the fragility of our shared humanity.

Despite the positive changes we have seen across this island in the past decade, it is clear the painful legacy of the Troubles remains a daily reality for numerous families and individuals and continues to have an impact on politics and society in these islands. How we might contribute to the healing process is something which the Government will continue to take forward in our discussions with the British Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. With the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Assembly earlier this year and the continuing transformation of politics in Northern Ireland, there is an increasing spirit of partnership and respect across this island. The threat posed by a tiny minority who, despite everything, remain committed to violence is clear and real, but the determination of the people of this island, North and South, to oppose such violence is stronger still.

In the Good Friday Agreement, the people made clear their commitment to peace, to a society founded on mutual respect, equal rights and opportunities.

Those same principles and goals inspired the civil rights marchers who walked the streets of Derry 38 years ago. The Saville inquiry was not about reopening old wounds but about healing the gaping wounds created by injustice. One strong and clear signal that this healing has begun was seeing representatives of the Protestant churches — Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, the Rev. Good; moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Hamilton; and president of the Methodist Church, the Rev. Kingston — joining with the former Catholic Bishop of Derry, the Rev. Daly, and the families in the Bogside on 16 June to remember not only those who died on Bloody Sunday but all those who died in the Troubles.

The statue presented by the church leaders to the families shows two communities not just reaching out to each other but grasping hands in common humanity and friendship. When I met with family members in Dublin later that day they mentioned how much that gesture from the leaders of the Protestant churches meant to them. The Rev. Good expressed the hope that the event would bring the people of Derry and Londonderry closer together. The spirit of reconciliation that was shown by all those present that day will be a solid platform for the future.

Today we, as the elected representatives of the Irish people, remember the victims of Bloody Sunday. We also remember the thousands who died during other dark days of the Troubles. Thousands of families suffered the loss of their loved ones. Tens of thousands suffered physical and psychological injuries. The violence that caused these deaths and injuries, from whatever quarter, was wrong. It was not justified then and — as those who seek to bring us back to those dark days need to know — it is not justified now. The people of this island spoke loud and clear in voting for the Good Friday Agreement. They rejected violence. They said in unison, never again. Too much blood has been spilt and too much pain and anguish caused. There must be no more bloody days in Ireland's future.

In a letter of thanks to supporters, the families of those killed and injured on Bloody Sunday said that although they had always known the truth, they can now rest easy, "safe in the knowledge that our loved ones have been officially declared innocent by Lord Saville". The families deserve our admiration for their courage in pursuing the truth on what was a long and often difficult journey. They have earned the right now to rest easy. I was particularly struck by a remark made to me by Kay Duddy at our meeting on the day after the Saville report was published. She said she had buried her brother, Jackie, 38 years ago but that the publication of the report meant he was now resting in peace.

As we speak today we think of Jackie Duddy and all the others who died on that infamous day in our history. They are: Patrick Doherty, Hugh Gilmour, Bernard McGuigan, James Wray, Michael Kelly, William McKinney, Gerald Donaghey, Gerald McKinney, Kevin McElhinney, John Young, William Nash, Michael McDaid, and John Johnston. Their innocence is now known around the world. Their innocence is forever inscribed on the pages of the history of Ireland. It is fitting that their innocence is today formally placed, once again and for all time, on the record of Dáil Éireann.

Deputies

Hear, hear.

I propose to share time with Deputies McHugh and Crawford.

That is agreed.

I am pleased to support this motion and I thank the House for agreeing to my proposition that there be an all-party response to the publication of the report of the Saville inquiry. I recall 30 January 1972 very well, as do many Irish people. The publication of the Saville report on 15 June 2010 brought truth and clarity into the public domain 38 years after the events of Bloody Sunday. The report vindicates the fathers, brothers and sons who were killed and wounded, and the organisers of the civil rights march, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association. The families of the victims must be foremost in our minds now that their loved ones' names have been cleared of any wrongdoing on that Sunday in January 1972.

I hope the clarity of this key finding will help to provide some measure of comfort to the relatives of the victims who, for 38 long years, fought to have the events of that day thoroughly investigated and responsibility properly assigned. The passage of time and the sense of loss and injustice they must have felt did not deter them from seeking the truth. Crucially, Lord Saville's report has concluded that the fatal shots fired shortly before 4 p.m. on William Street in Derry on 30 January 1972 were not in response to attacks or threatened attacks. Instead, he clearly lays responsibility for firing the first shot with the British army. Having studied the events of Bloody Sunday for 12 years, Lord Saville's report is clear in its conclusions and is now the official version of events, countering the findings of the Widgery report which was produced three months after Bloody Sunday. Lord Widgery had concluded that British army officers were fired on first. The relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday never believed this and they were right not to do so.

In 1997, 25 years after Bloody Sunday, the Government submitted a detailed report to the new Labour Government in Britain with a view to securing a new inquiry. The Government stated that it had "long shared the widespread view that the Widgery report was unsatisfactory" and "did not represent the truth of what happened on that day." The British Government agreed to the new investigation in 1998. It has taken 38 years for the true events of that day to emerge. When making its submission to the British Government in 1997, the Government stated that "the process of healing, reconciliation and ultimately of peace is advanced by a willingness on all sides and on behalf of all victims to acknowledge the overriding values of truth and justice."

The then Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, agreed and said it was "the way forward to the necessary reconciliation which will be such an important part of building a secure future for the people of Northern Ireland." Mr. Blair said he had been moved having spoken to the relatives of Bloody Sunday victims who, he said, did not want recriminations or revenge but simply the truth. The apology two weeks ago by the new British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, is significant and must be welcomed. He was clear and contrite in his statement, describing Bloody Sunday as a tragedy that should never have happened. It was, he said, "unjustified and unjustifiable". The Saville report has since been accepted by all political leaders in Northern Ireland.

There are many more families who have lost loved ones in the Troubles whose deaths have not received the same level of scrutiny. These families do not have closure or a sense of justice for their loved ones. We must begin anew the process of healing. We should now take time to reflect on the next steps for dealing with the tragic legacies of the past. The new Justice Minister for Northern Ireland, Mr. David Ford, stated on Monday that the Saville report has put "truth on the record" and that it undoubtedly raised questions of how Northern Ireland deals with its past and moves forward as a society. He committed to ensuring his Department would play its part in contributing to the promotion of reconciliation and a shared future.

The tragic events of Bloody Sunday were a turning point for Northern Ireland, forcing many who felt the injustice too great into supporting violence. However, a very positive turning point in Northern Ireland's history came in 1998 with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. It is essential to ensure young men are not lured into these organisations by some romantic notion of Irish republicanism and the continuation of an armed struggle. To achieve this we must continue to highlight in any way we can the necessity of implementing in full the Good Friday Agreement so that people will understand that co-operation and power-sharing are the way forward for peace and equality.

I travelled to Belfast last week with members of my party to meet with Northern Ireland's political leaders following the devolution of justice and policing powers. We discussed the Saville report, dissident activities and the possibilities into the future for the island of Ireland. The Independent Monitoring Commission has stated previously — and Fine Gael wholly agrees — that the devolution of policing and justice brings important benefits to Northern Ireland, not least in allowing closer integration of law enforcement with other domestic policies. It will have a real and positive impact on people's lives and the problems they face on a daily basis.

I have had a difficulty with Deputy Ó Caoláin's party for many years on the issue of the army council of the IRA. In my presence, following questions, both the president of Sinn Féin, Mr. Gerry Adams, and the Deputy First Minister, Mr. Martin McGuinness, confirmed that from every perspective they could see, the IRA and its army council are no more. I accept the Deputy First Minister's statement in that regard. I shall be writing to him in due course about several other matters.

Thirty-eight years and five months ago to the day, 14 innocent men died. It has taken almost four decades for their families to be able to stand outside the Guildhall in Derry and hear it announced that they were innocent. I support this motion and commend it in its entirety as an overwhelmingly positive response from this Oireachtas.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important motion. I also welcome the intervention by the Taoiseach and acknowledge that now is a time to take stock, not to come up with further calls for other atrocities to be investigated, to evaluate this report properly and to listen to the people of Northern Ireland.

On 30 January 1972, 28 unarmed civil rights marchers were injured, with 14 people subsequently dying. The public acknowledgement of the innocence of these 14 people in Westminster by the British Prime Minister is significant historically and marks a watershed in our moving forward as a nation and in terms of the Good Friday Agreement. As the Taoiseach said, it is important that we listen to the people. I met a woman from Derry who is friendly with some of the families who saw relatives murdered that day. She spoke about the power and symbolism of the British apology, that it meant a great deal to see the British Prime Minister make that apology and emphasising the unjustifiable nature of these murders.

We must also think about what we do next. People will ask what will happen, a question Deputy Crawford, Deputy Kenny and I heard from many of the politicians we met in Stormont last Monday. Where do we go from here? The historical inquiries team has 50 detectives working on unsolved killings. The Bradley Eames report raised the question of money in an insensitive way. We must, however, look at the 3,500 who were killed in Northern Ireland as a result of the troubles, and the impracticality of a Saville inquiry for every atrocity. There is general agreement across the religious, political and community divide in Northern Ireland that these murders were unjustifiable. We must also take stock of Ballymurphy, Greysteel and other atrocities. We must find a way forward and a solution. We owe it to those who went through the 38 years of heartbreak, challenging a system to establish the innocence of their relatives, to take their viewpoints on board.

I acknowledge the journalist Éamonn McCann, who has been at the coalface of the campaign for 38 years. His name has become synonymous with the Saville report, a Derryman representing his people. A family member of one of those killed was asked where we should go from here. The answer was succinct, that we must keep on keeping on. That is the call from those affected by this, they want to continue the debate and to come up with solutions for other atrocities.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and thank the Taoiseach for agreeing with my party leader to bring it forward on an all-party basis today.

None us will ever forget Bloody Sunday, and the sight of Fr. Daly trying to bring about peace in whatever way he could. We heard all the accusations and all the comments about who had done what and who was at fault. We had the Widgery report and we now have the Saville report. The Saville report led, most important, to the statement by the British Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, who clearly and distinctly apologised on behalf of his Government and the English people for what had been done.

I am certain that not only did those 14 people die innocently, but as a direct result many other atrocities happened that might not have if Bloody Sunday had not happened. I have heard many people say that it was as a result of that day that they joined the IRA and that other things then happened. We have much to thank Lord Saville for.

We must also find a way forward. We have discussed the Dublin-Monaghan bombings in this House and unfortunately there has been very little support from the British Government when it comes to resolving this issue. I have publicly stated that there are people who have refused to come forward. It is an ongoing issue that must be resolved.

We can all think of the other atrocities that have had consequences for all sides in Northern Ireland and the Border counties. More than 3,500 were killed and I congratulate the Taoiseach for mentioning the tens of thousands who were injured. People do not need to lose a limb in a bombing or see a loved one murdered, they had damage done to their way of thinking and their everyday lives. As someone who had a brother who worked for a church there, I have no doubt many people much died earlier because of cancer and other problems than they would have otherwise.

We must move forward and in that context, Deputy Kenny, Deputy McHugh and I went to Belfast to hold discussions with bodies such as Cooperation North. The people in that organisation pointed out how they are trying to deal with some of the issues there. I was in Glencree with some colleagues on Friday and Saturday at a workshop where there were people from the extremes on both sides who spelled out the difficulties and what must be done.

This is all a work in progress and the Saville report has helped. I thank my own moderator and other Protestant clergy for the role they played; it was significant and I hope we can all move forward to a more peaceful society, with structures that will give some satisfaction and comfort to those who lost so many over the last 30 years.

On behalf of the Labour Party, I have co-sponsored the motion before us with the other party leaders and join them, and all Members of the Dáil, in support of the motion. It is right and proper that we remember all those who were killed on Bloody Sunday in Derry on Sunday, 30 January 1972, along with all those who were injured and all those who have suffered over many years as a result of the events of that day.

The events themselves were extraordinary and transformative. A Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march to protest against internment without trial in Northern Ireland was taking place, with more than 10,000 men, women and children taking part in what was described as a "carnival atmosphere". The march, prevented from entering the city centre by the British Army, moved instead to a rally at Free Derry Corner. Then, soldiers of the Parachute Regiment moved into the Bogside in what was subsequently claimed to have been intended as an arrest operation.

During the next 30 minutes these soldiers shot dead 13 men, and shot and injured a further 13 people, mainly by single shots to the head and trunk, assassination-style. One of the injured 13 died subsequently from his wounds.

It is not just the events of the day that we commemorate. Intimately linked with Bloody Sunday is the name of John Widgery, the then Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. The soldiers responsible for the deaths and injuries insisted that they had come under sustained gun and bomb attack by members of the IRA and fired only at people in possession of weapons. The Widgery report was produced within 11 weeks of Bloody Sunday. Faced with testimony from the soldiers, who claimed they had been shot at, while the marchers insisted that no one from the march was armed, Lord Widgery produced a report which took the army's side. In short, he firmly attached the main blame for the deaths to the march organisers, for creating a dangerous situation where a confrontation was inevitable, and he concluded that shots had been fired at the soldiers before they started the firing that led to the casualties; for the most part, the soldiers acted as they did because they thought their standing orders justified it; and although there was no proof that any of the deceased had been shot while handling a firearm or bomb, there was a strong suspicion that some had been firing weapons or handling bombs in the course of the afternoon. Lord Widgery said there would have been no deaths if there had not been an illegal march, which had created "a highly dangerous situation".

We all recall that it was immediately clear that there were key problems and inconsistencies in this report. Principally, Lord Widgery found no conclusive proof that the dead or wounded had been shot while handling a firearm, yet he accepted the soldiers' testimony and concluded that the soldiers had been fired on first. He did admit that some of the soldiers' firing "bordered on the reckless".

As Bishop Edward Daly said, "What really made Bloody Sunday so obscene was the fact that people afterwards, at the highest level of British justice, justified it; I think that is the real obscenity". However, not all persons in authority followed the establishment line, as spelled out in Widgery. Major Hubert O'Neill, the Derry City Coroner, in a statement issued on 21 August 1973, said:

This Sunday became known as Bloody Sunday and bloody it was. It was quite unnecessary. It strikes me that the Army ran amok that day and shot without thinking what they were doing. They were shooting innocent people. These people may have been taking part in a march that was banned but that does not justify the troops coming in and firing live rounds indiscriminately. I would say without hesitation that it was sheer, unadulterated murder. It was murder.

People throughout the island campaigned for a new inquiry but they met with no response for many years. I commend the families for their campaign and also the Government here which, in 1997, submitted a detailed dossier of evidence to the UK to back demands for a new Bloody Sunday inquiry. That 178-page document incorporated an assessment of fresh information about the shootings, as well as a damning indictment of the Widgery report. Some of that dossier was based on the new book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday by Don Mullan, which pulled together many previously unconsidered statements. This dossier from the Irish Government, together with other factors, in 1998 convinced the new Labour government in Britain to establish the Saville inquiry.

Lord Saville and his two colleagues effectively demolished the Widgery report, finding that soldiers lied about their actions and falsely claimed to have been attacked. The report directly contradicts the findings of the Widgery report. Lord Widgery, in his summary of conclusions, wrote:

None of the deceased or wounded is proved to have been shot whilst handling a firearm or bomb. Some are wholly acquitted of complicity in such action; but there is a strong suspicion that some others had been firing weapons or handling bombs in the course of the afternoon and that yet others had been closely supporting them.

However, the Saville tribunal's principal conclusion is succinctly stated at Volume I, Chapter 4: "The immediate responsibility for the deaths and injuries on Bloody Sunday lies with those members of Support Company (of the Parachute Regiment) whose unjustifiable firing was the cause of those deaths and injuries."

Lord Saville can right the wrong done to the dead and the survivors of Bloody Sunday by the Widgery report. However, there were other consequences to the day which no report can right. Throughout Ireland the Bloody Sunday killings resulted in a dramatic increase in support for militant republicanism in general and the IRA in particular. The direct result was that many more families in Northern Ireland and throughout these islands suffered, as result of more and more acts of violence and counter-violence, from all sides. For the next three decades, the only politics in Northern Ireland was the politics of the last atrocity and the only common experience in an increasingly divided community was the pain and suffering of the bereaved and injured on all sides.

I hope and believe we have moved on, that we are, as the all-party motion states, in a new era of commitment to building peace and reconciliation on this island and between these islands. I welcome the statement made by the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron. However, while his statement may help to bring healing to the families touched by the events of that day, many sensitivities remain. In particular, I recognise that righting one particular wrong done to one particular group is a sensitive issue when so many wrongs have been done to so many other innocent victims. Some people in the Unionist community have criticised the cost of the Saville inquiry and the extent of the media attention given to the killings on Bloody Sunday. They can point, accurately, to the contrast with so many major atrocities involving paramilitaries, which received much less attention.

I have no doubt but that part of the reason for this difference is the very fact that the Widgery report was so fundamentally flawed in its methodology, analysis and conclusions. It created doubts about the innocence of those killed and injured on Bloody Sunday, and imprinted those doubts about their innocence onto the public record. Bloody Sunday shaped our history for years to come. All of us have more work to do in developing a language and approach in which we can recognise and embrace the diverse origins and traditions of our people, and the achievements and sufferings of all traditions on this island, one in which we can recognise, in the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that the inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

Above all today, we remember those who died on Bloody Sunday, and the Taoiseach rightly put their names on the record of the House; those who suffered injury on Bloody Sunday; and those who suffered injury since, particularly the families. We reassert, as the Saville report has done, that they were innocent, that a terrible wrong was done and that we move forward on the basis of the content of the resolution we are agreeing in the House.

I am very privileged to make this statement today on behalf of the Green Party, Comhaontas Glas. I have a vivid memory of watching the RTE evening news on that fateful Sunday in January 1972. The events in Derry on that day proved to be a turning point for all of us living in these islands, and its consequences continued to resonate right up until earlier this month when the Saville report was finally published.

After 30 January 30 1972, Northern Ireland descended into a vortex of violence which blighted lives across the island of Ireland, across Britain and in many places beyond these islands. So many of our memories are scarred by the events which flowed from that Sunday in Derry, when British soldiers murdered many of our innocent fellow countrymen. It was the day that the last flickering hopes died for successful civil protest against the blatantly unfair discrimination in Northern Ireland which the nationalist community had suffered since 1920. For too many years after that day, the peaceful protest movement for fairness in politics, housing, jobs and social services was set to one side. Reasonable and compassionate people who were ready to engage in dialogue and compromise to find a better way were increasingly forced to pick a sectarian side and stay with it.

Put simply, sending heavily armed British paratroopers to murder unarmed, peaceful protestors lit the fuse for more than two decades of war and horror in these islands. From then on, the paramilitaries held sway and justified the intransigent elements in the British Government in their taking ever harsher and counterproductive security crackdown measures. It is impossible to overstate the importance of Lord Saville's report and the unequivocal acceptance of it by the British Government. It is a boon for lasting peace and justice in these islands.

Today, as has been said, it is a privilege to be called to speak here in Dáil Éireann and to continue to bear witness to the cruel wrong done to the 14 innocent Derry people and their families. It is a great privilege to have a chance to salute and record the courage and fortitude of the bereaved families and friends in Derry who continued to fight and hope for justice over 38 long years of heartbreak. It is an opportunity for us to thank the British Prime Minister David Cameron for the way he unequivocally endorsed the Saville report findings. It was extremely important that he totally acknowledged that not one of those shot that day did anything whatsoever to justify the British army's murderous attack.

Mr. Cameron's apology was all of 38 years late for the people of Derry and many more of us in Ireland, but it is welcome because it is heartfelt and, more importantly, it offers us the chance to move on from the shameful, mendacious whitewash that was the Widgery report. I hope and believe that Mr Cameron's response helps our chances of finally moving on from that Bloody Sunday in Derry. It is again a privilege to recall that all parties in this Dáil and Seanad have worked for 25 years for lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

I want to briefly note that the Green Party, Comhaontas Glas, from its earliest days has been an all-island party. With people like Brian Wilson MLA, Steven Agnew and Cadogan Enright, we have worked to move the debate in Northern Ireland politics to a broader and more inclusive level. I want to pledge myself and my Green Party colleagues across the island of Ireland, in conjunction with Green Party colleagues in Wales, England and Scotland, to continue this work.

As a co-sponsor of the motion before us I confirm my support and that of my Sinn Féin Dáil colleagues for its unanimous passage. The report of the Saville inquiry is a vindication of the 14 dead and the injured of Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972 in Derry. It is an affirmation of the steadfastness of the families of the dead who campaigned for truth and justice for all of 38 years. I begin by saluting the families, the survivors and the very brave people of the Irish city of Derry whose courage has long been a beacon for freedom-loving people in Ireland and across the world.

The people of Derry have known from the day of the shootings that their loved ones, friends and neighbours were innocent and were shot dead by soldiers of the parachute regiment of the British army without any justification whatsoever. It has taken nearly four decades for the British state to finally acknowledge that fact. Long overdue as the acknowledgement is, it is still hugely significant. It ends 38 years of denial and cover-up by successive British Governments. The denial, the lies and the cover-up began in the immediate aftermath of the shootings and this is very clear from the Saville report. The report finds that members of the parachute regiment knowingly put forward false accounts of their actions during the shootings, both in their initial statements and, many years later, to the Saville inquiry itself.

What compounded the crime of Bloody Sunday was the legal and political whitewash that was the Widgery inquiry. Widgery stigmatised the dead in order to exonerate the killers. He stated that:

There would have been no deaths in Londonderry on January 30th if those who organised the illegal march had not thereby created a highly dangerous situation . . . Some soldiers showed a high degree of restraint in opening fire, the firing of others bordered on the reckless.

If there is one major flaw in the Saville report it is that it does not explicitly deal with that first so-called inquiry into Bloody Sunday. Widgery was steered in a very definite direction by the then British Prime Minister Edward Heath. In 1995 a letter was uncovered in the Public Record Office in London containing the minutes of a meeting between Widgery and Edward Heath on 1 February 1972, two days after Bloody Sunday. Heath's most significant statement to Widgery at that meeting was the following: "It had to be remembered that we were in Northern Ireland fighting not only a military war but the propaganda war".

When he was called to testify at the Saville inquiry, Heath admitted he had spoken to Lord Widgery prior to his inquiry and impressed upon him that the morale of the British army was at stake. Heath denied to the Saville inquiry that he had given Widgery "a steer". That a steer was given and duly obeyed was patently obvious when the Widgery report came out and it is undeniable now. In all of its major conclusions Saville consigns Widgery to the dustbin of history.

The Saville report found that the British paratroopers were responsible for all the deaths and injuries on that fateful day and that the soldiers opened fire without justification. The report found that none of the killed and injured was posing any threat of causing death or serious injury when they were shot and that soldiers did not fire in response to attacks or threatened attacks by nail or petrol bombers. Most damningly, it found that some of the victims were shot in the back as they attempted to flee. One was shot as he was crawling away and another as he lay mortally wounded.

The motion before us today, which the Sinn Féin Deputies endorse, welcomes the apology from the British Prime Minister David Cameron. He made a significant statement in the House of Commons, significant not least because he is a Tory Prime Minister. However, it is also a carefully crafted and precisely worded statement and should not be viewed uncritically. There is much in it about the role of the British Government and the British armed forces in Ireland which we strongly contest. We have never accepted, and the majority of the Irish people have never accepted, that the role of the British armed forces in the Six Counties was in David Cameron's words, "upholding democracy and the rule of law". In our view as Irish republicans, quite the opposite is the case.

Leaving aside his general remarks about the British armed forces, remarks aimed at a particular audience in Britain, it is necessary to examine what he said about the role of the British Government and senior British commanders regarding Bloody Sunday. The Prime Minister claimed that those looking for premeditation, those looking for a plan and those looking for a conspiracy involving senior politicians or senior members of the armed forces would not find it in the Saville report. However David Cameron also said, "The Government is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the armed forces" and on that statement he based his apology. Between these two statements by the British Prime Minister there is a gap that is not bridged by the Saville report and this is where the report is at its weakest.

On Major General Ford, Commander of the British Land Forces in the Six Counties at the time, the report acknowledges that he issued a memorandum suggesting that so-called ringleaders of riots be shot after warning. Saville also acknowledges that Ford's decision to use the 1st battalion of the parachute regiment in Derry is "open to criticism on the ground that 1 Para was a force with a reputation for using excessive physical violence". However, Saville says he is sure Ford's suggestion to shoot alleged rioters was not adopted and also sure there was no plan to cause a confrontation with the IRA in Derry. The British army commander in Derry, Brigadier MacLellan, is similarly dealt with in the report, which accepts his claim that he had no reason to believe that the limited arrest operation he allegedly ordered ran the risk of death and injuries from unjustifiable shooting by the soldiers. No such distancing from the shootings could be sustained in the case of Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford, leader of the paras that day. He is strongly criticised by Saville for disobeying orders and sending the paras into the Bogside.

What we have from the British Prime Minister is an acknowledgement of the ultimate responsibility of the British Government for the conduct of the British armed forces and nothing explicit in Saville to show direct responsibility by either Government or senior commanders, except Wilford, for the Bloody Sunday killings. However, the British Government and senior military commanders bear direct responsibility for the shootings, not necessarily through direct orders to shoot but by deliberately deploying the paratroopers in the full knowledge of their purpose and reputation. We know this from events prior to and following on from Bloody Sunday which, unfortunately, were not covered by Saville.

I have already dealt with the Widgery cover-up, a whitewash initiated by the then British Prime Minister, Edward Heath, and used by successive British Governments for decades. Widgery was designed to shield the entire chain of command from Downing Street to the soldiers who fired the shots. It gave them immunity and they acted accordingly afterwards. In July 1972 the paras shot dead five people in Springhill in Belfast.

Far less known is the prelude to Bloody Sunday from August the previous year. Over a three day period following the imposition of internment without trial on 9 August 1971 the same parachute regiment of the British army shot dead 11 people in the Ballymurphy area of West Belfast in similar circumstances to the Derry killings. All were unarmed civilians and included a mother of eight who had gone to the assistance of one of the injured and a parish priest administering the last rites. Some of the victims were shot on the ground while mortally wounded. We support the call of the Ballymurphy families for an international investigation into these killings and we urge the Irish Government to fully back that call by asking the British Government to co-operate.

The people of Ballymurphy were attacked by the British army as it imposed internment without trial and imprisoned hundreds of people indefinitely on the basis of a ministerial order. The people of Derry were attacked by the British army on Bloody Sunday because they were participating in a civil rights demonstration against internment. The people of Ireland and the friends of Ireland were outraged by Bloody Sunday and the British embassy in Dublin was burned to the ground. People in the Twenty-six Counties were also attacked by British forces. Seeing the upsurge in support for Irish republicanism in the Twenty-six Counties in 1972, the British deployed their counter-gangs, the heavily infiltrated unionist paramilitaries. They bombed Dublin in December 1972, killing two people. In May 1974 they bombed Dublin and Monaghan, killing 34. Their purpose was to strike terror into the people in this State and to make them fear to show solidarity with the oppressed Nationalists in the North. This strategy was complemented by an Irish Government which sought to blame republicans for the bombings and which tightened political censorship and repression in this State.

The Saville report has given badly needed hope to the bereaved and the survivors of Dublin and Monaghan and the other cross-Border bombings and fatal acts of collusion in this jurisdiction. In the context of this debate on Bloody Sunday and the Saville report's vindication of the families, it is a disgrace that the Irish Government has cut funding for the only victims' group in this State, Justice for the Forgotten. It is equally disgraceful the Taoiseach has failed to raise with the British Prime Minister this Dáil's unanimous call for the British Government to furnish to an international judicial figure all files in its possession relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the other fatal acts of collusion in this jurisdiction. It is almost two years since the Dáil passed that resolution on 10 July 2008. I call again on the Taoiseach to act. He could not wait for the ink to dry on the Saville report before inviting the English Queen to visit but he made no effort to progress that unanimous Dáil resolution by pressing the issue with the British Government. We know from the history of the Bloody Sunday relatives' campaign how the British system works so assiduously to conceal the information in its possession. Persistence has paid off before and it is required again to vindicate the families who have been campaigning so long and hard under the banner of Justice for the Forgotten.

The Saville report took so long and cost so much for one reason, namely, the refusal of the British Government and its agents to tell the truth. The truth has triumphed, however. In the view of Irish republicans the length and breadth of this island, the ultimate act of justice for the people of Derry and Ireland will be the final removal of British armed forces and British jurisdiction from this country. We continue to work towards that day peacefully and democratically. We remember all the victims of the conflict without exception and sympathise with all the bereaved. We believe their finest monument will be lasting peace and reconciliation between all the people who share this island and between the islands of Ireland and Britain.

Question put and agreed to.
Sitting suspended at 1.30 p.m. and resumed at 2.30 p.m.
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