One of the soldiers who was involved in the murder of 14 unarmed civilians in Derry on Sunday, 30 January 1972 (known internationally as "Bloody Sunday") has admitted in an interview on BBC Radio Ulster on Friday (28 Feb.) that he saw nothing that day which "warranted opening fire with live rounds."
The former paratrooper said that when the First Parachute Battalion was sent into Derry there was an "anticipation of encountering something on a scale which hadn't been confronted in Belfast." He said that the soldiers had been "hyped up ". This has been due to the briefings that they had been given and the lack of time they had to properly assess the situation. He agreed that there had been an element of shambles and very little control from senior army ranks. He said that the units who were ordered into the Bogside had been sitting for several hours in armoured vehicles and were isolated from the demonstration. "When orders came to move forward you had people going through the barricades in vehicles, jumping from vehicles and hitting the ground, running immediately in front of a large animated crowd, and so I think the time available to assess the situation and make an appropriate response was very restricted for the troops who were forward. I am inclined to think that the preconceived views of what the troops had expected to encounter and what the briefings had led them to believe, combined with the lack of time to assess the situation, by literally just jumping from vehicles in front of the crowd and having to react, certainly contributed to what occurred.
"I can't speak for other individuals, I can merely report what I saw myself, and I certainly did not think that there was justification for the killings. Even had there been the odd weapon or the odd round fired at the soldiers it still would not justify the response that occurred. The deaths and injuries that occurred were an entirely inappropriate response to whatever threat was being offered. From my standpoint, apart from the intimidation of a large body of people being together, there was no threat. I saw nothing that warranted opening fire with live rounds. Speaking for myself I feel a sense of remorse for the suffering that was caused to the individuals concerned, their families, and subsequently young men who were motivated to join the ranks of the IRA and as a consequence spent the best years of their lives in jail."
The former paratrooper went on to say that he believed an acknowledgement of what had occurred and some form of apology was appropriate. He did not feel another inquiry was justified. "I believe that the interested parties on all sides are fully aware of what occurred that day. A large degree of responsibility must lie with whoever directed a unit like 1 Para into the situation in the first place. If the judgements that are made at a higher level are found wanting - which they certainly were on that occasion - it would be nice if someone was prepared to acknowledge their part in what occurred."
The application for a judicial review with regard to the findings of the Widgery Tribunal of Inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday waswithdrawn for the time being from the High Court in Belfast on Monday (24 Feb). The application to take the case out of the list was made by the solicitors representing the relatives of those killed, Madden and Finucane. No reason has been given as to why the case has been withdrawn, however, speaking to the Irish News solicitor Angela Ritchie said they had information "which may ultimately result in receipt by us of important new evidence." It is believed that Angela was referring to two recent television programmes which gave corroborative evidence that soldiers, other than paratroopers, were shooting from Derry's Walls when 14 civilians were killed.
Some of the relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday will be going to the USA to participate in the annual St Patrick's celebrations. The relatives will fly out to the USA on 14 March. They will have a prominent position in the St Patrick's Day parades in both Boston and New York.
While in the USA they will also meet a number of senior US politicians including Senator Edward Kennedy
A statement has been issued in the name of the four church leaders in Ireland (Rev Kenneth Best, President of the Methodist Conference in Ireland, Rev Harry Allen, Moderator of the Presbyterian Assembly, Archbishop Sean Brady and Archbishop Robin Eames). The statement, which was issued on Thursday (27 Feb) has welcomed the British Government's agreement to examine new evidence with regard to Bloody Sunday. They also expressed a hope that the government's examination of the new evidence would be done "expeditiously".
The Rev Kenneth Best, who is the Methodist minister in Derry, spoke on Radio Foyle and said that he was currently reading Don Mullan's book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday and that he was very concerned about what happened and the need to establish the truth.
In what is becoming an increasingly embarrassing affair for the British Government, Fair Employment Minister "Baroness" Denton has admitted that she ordered the removal of an official in her department who had been a victim of sectarian harassment. This admission follows two weeks of consistent denials that the Minister had been involved or had ordered the transfer.
The victim of the sectarian harassment was a female Catholic who worked in the Minister's private office in the Department of Agriculture. The person guilty of the harassment was the Minister's private secretary Alvina Saunders. Documents obtained by the Irish News showed that the Minister had personally ordered the transfer of the junior civil servant because she " was not fitting in".
The case of harassment, which the department has admitted, relates to Mrs Saunder's triumphalist behaviour during the parade of the Orange Order down the Garvaghy Road in July 1995 following the first Drumcree stand-off.
Seamus Mallon, the SDLP Deputy Leader and MP for Newry and Armagh has tabled a motion at the House of Commons about the issue. In a statement he said that "the fact that compensation as paid strengthens the evidence ...that the lady was treated unjustly and unfairly. That this could happen in any element of public service is regrettable. That it should happen in a minister's private office is a matter of fundamental concern - not just for the department but for the entire administration." Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has called on Mrs Denton, an unelected member of the British House of Lords, to resign. "Religious discrimination is intolerable. It lies at the root of the continuing economic inequality of this society. For the economy Minister, who has responsibility for fair employment, to have been found to have flagrantly disregarded fair employment policy is a scandal. Her position is now untenable and she should resign." Oliver Kearney, spokesperson of the Equality campaign group said that the affair was "only the tip of an iceberg of indifference and opposition" in the civil serviced to equality of treatment.
Currently the person who was the victim of harassment and who was removed is on extended leave whereas Mrs Saunders is still in post.
The Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament has agreed to send a delegation to visit Róisín McAliskey in Holloway Prison in London (Tuesday, 25 Feb). This followed pleas made at the Parliament by two Irish EPs, Patricia McKenna of the Green party and Niall Andrews of Fianna Fáil. Patricia McKenna has also urged German MEPs to press their government on exactly where it stood on the issue of bail. This is because different messages as regarding bail have come from different elements within the German administration. The German Embassy appears to support the holding of Róisín in detention whereas the German Attorney General's office claims that it does not want her held pending extradition. The visit to Róisín will consist of 6 MEPs headed by Dutch socialist Ms. Hedy D'Ancona.
Also a Fine Gael member of Daíl Eireann, the largest political party in the present Irish Government, has joined women's leaders to launch a flower appeal for Róisín McAliskey. Mary Flaherty, who took party in the Bloody Sunday debate organised by the Pat Finucane Centre on Saturday 1 February along with John Hume, Mitchel McLaughlin and the Rev Roy Magee, appealed with Patricia McKenna, the Green party MEP, to people across Ireland to send flowers to Róisín , who is pregnant, as a gesture to mark International Women's Day on 8 March.
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The relatives of those killed in 1974 when the UVF simultaneously bombed Dublin and the town of Monaghan in which 33 people were killed have called for a full judicial inquiry into the events. The group of relatives, Justice for the Forgotten is asking that the inquiry should examine the inquiry carried out by both the RUC and the gardaí. Twenty two years after the event no member of the UVF has been brought to justice though it is believed that both the RUC and the gardaí know who carried out the bombings. Furthermore there is increasing evidence that member of the British secret services were also involved in the planning of the bombings. The relatives are planning eventually to take a case against the British Government in the European Court of Human Rights.
At a press conference in Dublin on Monday (24 Feb) the group said that TV documentaries amongst others had suggested involvement of the British security forces in the bombings. " A great deal is known about how the bombings were carried out. It is known that the placing of cars containing bombs and the timing of the explosions were carried out with military precision. Expert opinion available indicates the involvement of personnel with sophisticated military training exhibiting the kind of expertise which, according to security intelligence, was not available to loyalist paramilitaries organisations at the time. It has been confirmed by the RUC that a list of suspects, compiled by the gardaí, was made available to it and that a number of persons were arrested and interviewed in relation to the theft of the motor vehicles used in the bombings, but no prosecution was initiated against any individual."
There was a meeting in Dublin on Wednesday (26 Feb) between the Tánaiste, Dick Spring, and representatives of four residents groups from the North of Ireland concerning parades involving the Loyal Orders this year. The groups represented were the Bogside Residents' Group, the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community, the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition and Bellaghy Concerned Residents. The purpose of the meeting was to keep the Irish Government informed of what was happening in the North. The groups spelt out their views on the proposals put by the North commission. Afterwards the Irish Government called on the Loyal Order to get into face to face discussions with residents groups.
Meanwhile the credibility of the report on the issue of contentious parades which is expected from the Northern Ireland Forum has received a severe setback following the decision of the Alliance party, the Women's' Coalition and the Labour grouping to withdraw from the committee. This now means that the committee preparing the report is made up entirely of Unionist representatives
There was widespread anger this week following the announcement that the Education budget for this year is to be cut with the possible loss of up to 500 teaching posts throughout the North. The Department of Education intends cutting £12 million. The British Government are claiming that added expenditure on security will impact directly on public sector spending in what is seen as a clear attempt to blackmail the community. Trade unionists and politicians have attacked the claims made by the Education Minister, Michael Ancram, who specifically linked the cuts to the need to spend more on the RUC and British Army. Ancram has refused to consult with teachers unions regarding the proposed cuts. When the ceasefires were called in 1994 there was no resultant increase in public sector spending and many people see this week1s announcement as a spurious excuse to continue doing what the Conservative Government have been doing anyway for 18 years. One group unaffected by the cuts will be the children of Conservative Ministers since they attend private schools in Britain.
As we go on-line a major search operation is continuing in the Creggan housing estate in Derry involving British Troops and the RUC. The search, which resumed at 10am this morning, began on Friday when hundreds of gardens were searched by security forces using emergency legislation. The operation is centred on the area around St Peter1s school in upper Creggan. On Friday school buses were stopped by British soldiers who then searched the children1s bags. Pedestrians and cars have also been searched. The RUC claim to be looking for an explosive device which they allege was abandoned in the area by the IRA. The Creggan and Brandywell areas of the city have been the focus of intense activity by British soldiers and RUC during the operation.
A judicial review was applied for this week on behalf of Paul Kavanagh and Thomas Quigley, two republican prisoners who were told last year by the Home Secretary Michael Howard that they would remain in jail until they die. Lawyers for the men made the application in the High Court for a review of the decision which they described as 3a living death sentence.2 The two men, who were convicted of bombing attacks in London in 1981 in which three people died, are on temporary transfer to Maghaberry prison.