The Chief Constable of the PSNI has said he would be "only too happy" to meet the families of the 13 people shot dead in Derry on Bloody Sunday, to explain to them the background to a Financial Times report on Tuesday in which he described the Saville inquiry as "a waste of money".
Although he declined to say he would apologise to the families for this controversial comment, Mr Hugh Orde yesterday said he would meet them to "clarify my comments and put them into context".
Mr Orde said the reference to the Saville inquiry in the Financial Times was "taken completely out of context in terms of an overall wide-ranging interview". His "waste of money" comment was not just in relation to the Saville inquiry.
"One or two lines were taken from a half-hour long interview with a Financial Times reporter. I was talking about the emerging challenges that we are facing with historic cases and how those challenges are putting the PSNI, in terms of resources, under pressure.
"My intention was not to upset anybody in terms of my overall discussion with the Financial Times and I am only too happy to meet with the families and discuss that issue with them. I would explain to them what I said, I will clarify my comments to them and put them into context. I will tell them that I was talking about society having to come to terms with historic cases generally and then moving on. It was not just a comment on the Bloody Sunday inquiry," he said.
"People who call for such police investigations or inquiries of events that happened over 30 years ago must realise that that is very difficult to do because so many of those involved, particularly the then investigating police officers, are dead," he added.
In a statement issued last night, the families of the 13 Bloody Sunday victims said they would be willing to meet the Chief Constable, but only after he issued a public apology.
"Because he has criticised the inquiry in such a public manner and because he had pre-empted and prejudged the outcome of the inquiry by saying its result will satisfy no one, Hugh Orde should apologise to us in an equally public manner."
The statement added: "He should have realised the hurt his comments would cause to the families . . . If he makes a public apology in a manner commensurate with his public criticisms, we will meet with him at his invitation."