THE FIRST moves towards publishing the Bloody Sunday inquiry report began in London yesterday with British government lawyers examining the 5,000-page document to see whether its contents could endanger life or jeopardise British national security.
The Bloody Sunday families and the British soldiers responsible for the shootings on January 30th, 1972, that killed 13 men, with a 14th dying some months later, are likely to have to wait several more weeks before they learn the findings of the inquiry.
Northern secretary Shaun Woodward said yesterday that regardless of the huge cost of the inquiry, which will be well over £190 million, that without it “there would have been no stable peace process”. Tribunal chairman Lord Saville on Monday approved the final proofs of the report and yesterday he invited a team of five senior British government lawyers and officials to the inquiry’s offices to begin their work, which is expected to last about two weeks.
Mr Woodward strongly indicated on Monday that the publication might not now take place until after the British general election, expected in May, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats supporting this expected postponement.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who met British prime minister Gordon Brown in London yesterday, said publication should not be held back by the election.
“The families have already faced years of frustration in seeking the truth. After 12 years of the Saville inquiry there should be no further delays,” said Mr McGuinness, who was an IRA commander in Derry in 1972, and gave evidence to the inquiry.
Mr Woodward said he was legally bound to carry out this examination of the report to ensure that it did not “jeopardise national security or the human rights of any individual”. He said the lawyers and officials, who are from the Northern Ireland Office, MI5 and ministry of defence, would be bound by strict rules of confidentiality to try to ensure key details of the tribunal findings are not leaked before publication.
The total cost of the inquiry, which was announced by former British prime minister Tony Blair in January 1998, was £190.3 million up to the end of February, with printing and other administrative and legal costs certain to shoot the figure considerably higher. Some unionist politicians such as East Derry MP Gregory Campbell have questioned the value of the inquiry, in particular criticising the cost.
However, Mr Woodward in the House of Commons yesterday said that without the “Saville inquiry there would have been no stable peace process”.
“Because of the inquiry, it has been possible to establish the bona fides for a peace process to succeed, and all of the House will be grateful for that success,” he told MPs.
The inquiry sat mainly at the Guildhall in Derry but transferred for a period to hear British military witnesses. The opening statement from Lord Saville was made on April 3rd, 1998. Oral hearings began in March 2000. The first witness to give oral evidence was heard in November 2000 and the inquiry finished hearing the main body of witnesses in February 2004. Counsel for the inquiry gave a two-day closing speech, beginning on November 22nd, 2004. One further witness was heard in January 2005.
The inquiry interviewed and received statements from about 2,500 people, with 922 of these called to give oral evidence.