The debate on this motion will conclude at 4.30 p.m. Speakers have four minutes.
Bloody Sunday 1972: Motion.
I move:
That on this the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, January 30th, 1972, Seanad Éireann,
— notes the availability of a considerable volume of significant new evidence which further undermines the findings of the Widgery Tribunal;
— calls on the British Government to investigate this new evidence;
— to examine the outcome of the Widgery Tribunal; and
— to apologise to the relatives of those killed.
I thank Senator Norris who suggested this debate this morning. It is useful that we debate the matter now.
Few people of the appropriate age can forget Bloody Sunday 25 years ago. All of us have our memories. We remember news trickling in that something appalling and unprecedented in our history, which should never happen in a civilised country, was happening in the city of Derry. As the news trickled in we watched the black and white television pictures. We saw the picture that is etched forever in everybody's memory, the picture of the then Fr. Edward Daly holding his white bloodstained handkerchief as he helped to bring an injured man to safety. That and other pictures are burnt into our minds and will remain there forever.
We also remember the enormous anger that gripped people not just in Ireland but in all parts of the world. We remember the sense of incomprehension and disbelief. How could this happen in a civilised country? We remember the anger which drove sane, ordinary people onto the streets of Dublin and led to the burning of the British Embassy, something none of us thought would have been possible in this country in the 1970s. We saw the anger and despair following Bloody Sunday and the incredible suffering of the families of the victims.
Afterwards we watched the beginning of a major cover-up. We listened to the blatant, brazen lies about what happened. An inquiry was set up under the Lord Chief Justice which we expected to lead to the truth. However, we were given an official tissue of lies, a suppression of evidence and a blatant distortion of the facts. As a result the word "Widgery" became redolent with shame and ignominy as far as most people were concerned. It was synonymous with official cover-up and travesty of truth.
Sadly, we later saw the exploitation of what happened on Bloody Sunday by those who engaged in mass murder and some of the most foul and heinous acts of violence against people who were as innocent as the people who were gunned down on Bloody Sunday. That is something we must never forget.
Twenty-five years later there is considerable new evidence about the events of Bloody Sunday. The evidence surprises nobody; it confirms what most of us already knew to be the facts and the extent of the cover-up. Mr. John Hume said on RTÉ radio this morning that he did not need a new inquiry. He knew what happened on Bloody Sunday as does any fair minded person who makes even the smallest attempt to inquire into the facts. However, there is an enormous need for an official response to this new information. The official response must take into account not only the new information but also the facts that are already known. It is important that, 25 years later, the lie which is Widgery be demolished and the truth of what happened on that awful day be known. It should not be known in order to be used as a weapon in an ongoing quarrel but for its own sake and so that those whose names have been blackened by the Widgery report can at last have that wrong corrected.
There is a need for the truth and for the British Government to apologise to the relatives of those who were killed on that day.
I second the motion. This morning Senators reacted appropriately by standing in silent prayer for those who were killed on Bloody Sunday and for all those who have died or been injured in the tragedy that is Northern Ireland. This afternoon we are fulfilling another function as elected representatives in a sovereign Parliament. That function will advance the healing process which will help to bring about reconciliation and eliminate the deeply felt hurt of families and an entire community in the face of a terrible massacre and, even worse, the official whitewash and deceit that followed the massacre.
We have advanced 25 years but elected political representatives have an obligation to search for the basis of reconciliation and to work in common cause to achieve it. It is not surprising that our counterparts in the British House of Commons, who we meet regularly at the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body, are proposing the same action as is suggested by this motion. This is a chance for us to work together towards the common cause of simple recognition. I might anticipate the findings of an inquiry but, as Senator Manning pointed out, the truth has been known to all for a generation. However, we seek an inquiry that will look at the facts, accept the evidence and give the appropriate response and apology to those who were brutally murdered and to their families and communities who have suffered so much.
That would be a huge step towards achieving the reconciliation we seek. It would not offend any community in Northern Ireland. Wrong done by government is much more grievous than wrong done by terrorists who do not act in our name. That is why we must ensure that the standards that have disgraced government in this instance be apologised for and obliterated.
A Member of the British House of Commons, Andrew Hunter, whose reactions are predictable and consistent in their predictability, does no service to any cause when he again chooses to blindfold himself and, in a most offensive way, suggests there is nothing new to be learned and nothing to be inquired into. That type of blind, irrational response shows neither respect for those who were killed and their families nor respect for the intelligence of the Irish electorate and its representatives. I pity him in having such an approach.
If the British Government, despite calls from this and the British Parliaments, does not conduct this long overdue inquiry, the call must be brought to other fora such as the European Union, in which we are partners with the British, and the United Nations. I hope that, in a sense of common purpose between the British and Irish Governments and Parliaments, we can agree to do it together. If not, we have an obligation to pursue this matter further to ensure that the wrong of 25 years be belatedly corrected in the interests not just of those who died and their families but of the political future and harmony on this island.
I congratulate the Leader of the House for moving this motion on Bloody Sunday. I was one of the people in Derry that day and I will never forget it. It was like being on the Strand Road in Derry in 1969 when the Troubles started. Living in Letterkenny, which is about 20 miles from Derry, means one cannot forget what one saw that day. The fear experienced by people when the shooting started made them dive for cover. We headed for the safest place. It was terrible to be in areas around the Creggan and see mothers and fathers coming down from the Creggan after they heard there had been shooting and a massacre. I will never forget the shock and distress on their faces. Bloody Sunday will stay in the memories of people all over Ireland for many years. I recently saw the film "Michael Collins", including the depiction of the Croke Park murders which were also called Bloody Sunday. That day was never forgotten. Unfortunately, the Widgery Tribunal was set up and there was no evidence found that the demonstrators were armed. At the same time, the tribunal did not condemn the paratroopers.
New evidence has now come to light that the demonstrators were not armed and that the shots did not come from the paratroopers but from snipers on the city wall. It is a damning indictment of the British Government that it should allow this opportunity to pass, remarking only that an inquiry would be of no use.
I congratulate both John Hume and the Tánaiste for the manner in which they have approached this matter. The Tánaiste has raised it with the British Government for many years. The concerns of the families are there and they will not be happy until they have been told that their loved ones were innocent.
Senator O'Kennedy commented on the remarks made by Andrew Hunter this morning. It is hard to believe that this type of attitude still exists within the British Government. Mr. Hunter said that he was cynical about the whole affair but that there was no need for an inquiry. However, if the pressure had not been maintained in the case of the Birmingham Six those innocent men would still be languishing in British jails.
It is not a case of simply saying there should be no inquiry. I remember the faces of the Doodys and the Nashs who came down to look for their children that day. They will never forget what happened. They know their children were innocent and it is proper that an inquiry should be held. The state accused and vilified them and said they were men of violence. They were not men of violence but innocent people looking for civil rights. The families deserve an inquiry and something should be done as soon as possible to bring this chapter to an end.
I thank the Leader for his typically gracious acknowledgement of the small role I played in getting this matter before the House. I suggested it this morning because, although it was appropriate that we stand in silence as a mark of respect to the dead, I felt we should do something practical to strengthen the hand of the Tánaiste in pushing the British Government towards an inquiry. We cannot demand that they have one but we can request that they do.
I feel this strongly because I am half English. I was brought up to believe in British justice. However, the last 25 to 30 years have been a catalogue of infamy. Names like Lord Denning with the "appalling vista" judgment. Lord Widgery with his tribunal, the Diplock courts, the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four, all called into question the basic concept of British justice.
I remember the visual images of Bloody Sunday such as Bishop Daly carrying a white flag. There was another man, whose name I cannot remember, who also carried a white flag because he went to assist a young man who was lying on the ground dying. I heard two young women from Derry on the radio the other day say that they begged that man not to go because he would also be shot. He said "No, I have a white flag and they will respect that." They did not respect that. To shoot someone under a white flag rendering assistance is an appalling breach of every canon of decency.
Mr. Hunter says that there should not be a new inquiry until there is new evidence. How new and startling does this evidence have to be to satisfy him? People were described by the officer commanding as being in possession of nail bombs and having fired shots, but we know this was not true. He glossed over this by saying that the IRA traditionally removed weapons from the bodies of shot gunmen. We now know there were no nail bombs. These people did not shoot. They were peacefully protesting as they have every right to do. I also heard those two women say that this taught them one lesson — there was no use in democracy. Unfortunately, this appalling tragedy was one of the most significant recruiting agents for the Provisional IRA.
I remember the day that the British Embassy was burnt. I was on my way to a meeting about James Joyce and saw Daithí Ó Conaill on the back of a cart. I will never forget the words he used. "We are one race, one people, we have one culture, we have one voice", he said. I thought to myself that I had heard that before—Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Fuehrer—and I knew that there was a fascist element being released by the stupidity and callousness of the British Government.
Truth can heal and reconcile and we are entitled to it. Those people were innocent. Not only were they murdered but they were then vilified and their reputations besmirched — blame the victim. The British Government has sunk to a scandalous low. It is a reproach to the whole judicial system.
We also ought to ask questions about the role of the soldiers and the kind of training they received that allowed them to carry out this callous murder of innocent civilians. It would be valuable if that question was raised at the inquiry because, in addition to giving a much belated apology to the memory of the dead and the surviving relatives, we ought to use this inquiry to ensure that this kind of behaviour does not occur again either in Northern Ireland or elsewhere.
If these questions were answered by an inquiry and an apology made it would go some way towards reconciling the people of the two communities in Northern Ireland and I commend the Leader for his initiative in allowing this motion.
I am pleased to see this motion on the Order Paper and I am glad that the Progressive Democrats supported it and my name is attached to it.
The motion bears careful reading. The British Government has all the facts at its disposal. They are in Ministry of Defence and Northern Ireland Office files among others and it may not be the case that it requires the reopening of a public inquiry to establish them. It is open to Mr. Major to secure all the facts he needs and on the basis of those facts to make a clear, unambiguous and comprehensive statement about the events of that day. The statement must accept responsibility for the killings and offer a full apology to the families and friends of those killed.
I bow to Senator Maloney's more immediate experience of the events. If the families deemed it appropriate to have a public inquiry then I would agree to that. However, if it were to reopen a lot of personal wounds for them and if there was another attempt to besmirch the names of those killed then it would be better that the British Prime Minister and Government come clean and make a formal statement in the House of Commons accepting culpability and offering their apology.
I am glad that in this motion we are supporting what John Hume is seeking to do in the House of Commons with the backing of many members of that chamber. Given that the facts are available and the British Government can access them, there may not be a need for a prolonged inquiry. The Irish Government should also look at its own archives and make public any relevant information because it must also have examined the matter carefully.
Bloody Sunday was a watershed in Northern Ireland politics. It precipitated a great change — replacing Unionist rule in Stormont with direct rule from Westminster and leading to an aftermath of bitterness between the communities which survives to the present day. The Widgery inquiry, established to look into the facts, was a whitewash and it brought British justice into disrepute. At the time some of us were prepared to believe in the equality of British justice and confidence in it was totally eroded. Witness statements recently published were disregarded by the tribunal. If this were a criminal case — reference was made to the Birmingham Six — there would be good grounds for reopening the trial. The British Government should do the decent and honourable thing by acknowledging its responsibility as a first step to reconciliation.
The time has come to lance the boil and to remove the source of grievance which has poisoned the political atmosphere in Northern Ireland for many years. Governments, like people, should be generous; they should have the generosity of spirit, open-mindedness and big heartedness to apologise. That appeal was made this morning by an English churchman who I heard on the radio.
We must be even-handed in our condemnation of violence, irrespective of the quarter it comes. We must be mindful that many other families have suffered terribly through the loss of their relatives. We should condemn all violence of whatever nature and from whatever quarter. We cannot have the politics of selective condemnation of violence. Obviously, we strongly condemn what took place on Bloody Sunday but there have been other incidents over the years which we have condemned. If they were to recur — we hope they do not — we would condemn once more. If, as was stated, Finchley is the same as Northern Ireland, it unquestionable that if 14 people died there as opposed to Derry city there would be a totally different response from the British Government.
I do not remember Bloody Sunday as I was three years of age when it happened. It is moving for many Members who remember and who were politically involved at that time to recount that tale today as we remember those who were murdered in 1972. As we remember those who were murdered, we hope that by clearing up this scandal once and for all by establishing an independent tribunal and apologising for what occurred, we will help to bring the people of Northern Ireland together.
There is deep seated contempt in each community for the other. By apologising and by discovering the truth, we could go a long way to heal some of the wounds. As Senator Norris rightly said, some campaign agents behind the IRA cynically used Bloody Sunday. It was a recruiting ground as never before for that organisation which became more sophisticated and organised as a result of Bloody Sunday. It is vitally important to set the record straight.
The initiative taken by the House — I commend the Leader and other group leaders for tabling the motion — will send a signal supporting what the Tánaiste and the Government will say to the British Government and, in particular, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Any attempt by this House to help in that regard will be positive move and the people will see it as such. If attitudes in Northern Ireland are to change, we must learn to forgive and, in a sense, forget. As John Hume has often said, we should draw a line across the history of Northern Ireland and begin to look for a better future for everyone there. We cannot forget the thousands of innocent victims who have been murdered on the streets of Northern Ireland over the past 27 years but by tabling this motion I believe we are, in a small way, perpetuating their memory.
By tabling this motion we are reflecting the deeply held feelings of the majority of the people, North and South, about the tragedy in Derry 25 years ago and the failure of the British authorities to adequately respond. The Government must continue to use its influence with the British authorities to have a new inquiry established. If the British authorities fail to do so, the Government should explore the possibility of taking the matter to the Court Human Rights or down any other avenue which is open to it to deal with this matter which has caused much upset for so many people. I add my support to the motion before the House and call on the British authorities to take action to set up a new inquiry.
I remember Bloody Sunday very well; it was a snowy day. Four or five of us, including Seán Conway who later became a Member of this House and who died tragically last year, were in Ashbourne. We were full of good spirits and we went into the Hunter's Moon where we had hot ports and whiskeys. I had just found out that we were expecting our first child so it was an important day. The owner of the pub, Mr. John Byrne, who is from a place near Derry came over to us with tears in his eyes and asked if we had heard the news. He told us up to 20 people — the numbers were unclear at that stage — had been shot by the paramilitaries in Derry. I still feel the shock when I think back to that day.
Derry is a city I know well. The INTO holds a conference there every second year. It was only in the past two weeks that we decided to hold our 1997 national education conference in that city. The people of Derry have extraordinary and unstoppable optimism. It is a city of song and friendship and there is always optimism. I recall visiting the city in the summer of 1994 before the ceasefire where I spoke to John Hume and others. The people were certain there was to be a ceasefire because there had been no violence there in the previous 15 to 18 months, apart from one stray bullet. There was much optimism and development on Ship Quay Street. It was the fastest growing city of its type in Europe at that stage.
I would like to touch on a point raised by Senator Dardis about reopening old wounds. There is no danger of that happening because those wounds have never closed; the hurt has always been there and it has informed everything for the past 25 years. My sense of anger about it is so complicated that I find it difficult to articulate. It is not only directed at the British Government but also at the Provisionals and the callous way it has used this incident as a breeding ground for young terrorists to continue the cycle of pain, killing and violence for generations. The Provisionals have used this incident unmercifully to recruit young people. I know this from my members teaching in that city. They have given me examples of it time and again.
I remember two occasions in the past 15 years where the Provisionals insisted that youngsters from the Creggan and Bogside march to commemorate Bloody Sunday. On those occasions there was violence when the RUC or the British Army over reacted and mowed into these young lads and broke a few bones. The next day the IRA had six more recruits from the Bogside and the Creggan. It confirmed for these youngsters that the IRA was right. On every occasion the British Government reinforced that prejudice and confirmed the sense of injustice and we enforced and confirmed the prejudice and sense of injustice. The British Government is guilty on three counts: the parachute regiment representing it, the crooked way in which it conducted so-called inquiries and its giving a weapon to the IRA to develop its reign of terror. It is disgraceful that it should at this stage not wish to clear the record. It was 25 years ago. Why is the British Government so slow to do this?
It would be nice if Derry could be remembered in a practical way. It is a time the militaristic air of the national anthem was replaced with "The Derry Air". It is a reminder of many things and crosses many communities.
Question put and agreed to.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
When is it proposed to sit again?
At 2.30 p.m. next Wednesday.