The Bloody Sunday Inquiry would not have happened without Martin McGuinness, campaigners have said. “He was pivotal”, says John Kelly of the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign, whose brother Michael was among the 13 people who died on January 30th, 1972, when British soldiers open fire on a civil rights march in Derry’s Bogside. A 14th person died later.
Tony Doherty, whose father Paddy was killed in the incident, says there would not have been an inquiry but for the persistence of McGuinness during negotiations with Tony Blair’s government.
“Bloody Sunday was a very important event for Martin, as it was for every person who was on the streets of Derry that day,” Doherty says.
“When it came to the negotiations in 1997, Martin was very insistent that he was going to put Bloody Sunday on the agenda, and the issue of truth and justice for the people who were killed and their families and those who were wounded was at the forefront of his thinking when he was dealing with Tony Blair.
“He used to talk to us, tell us what he was going to say, and when he came out from the negotiations he would call either myself or John and tell us that he’s raised it and told the British government that it needed to deal effectively with the issue of Bloody Sunday for the families but also as a confidence-building measure in the peace process.”
McGuinness, who was second-in-command of the IRA in the Bogside on Bloody Sunday, evidence to the inquiry. In his findings, Lord Saville, who chaired the inquiry, ruled that McGuinness had “probably” been armed with a Thompson submachine gun.
“On the day of the inquiry itself we went back into the Guildhall after it was all over,” said Doherty. “I met Martin and he joked with me about Lord Saville’s finding about the Thompson submachine gun and he asked me what I thought of it.
“I said, ‘after all these years, Martin, they may as well get you for something’, and he laughed, but he didn’t really take it seriously, nobody took it seriously.
“He never missed the anniversary, even in January when he was gravely ill, he was down at the monument with us, and we appreciated that.”
Doherty, a former republican prisoner, says McGuinness “led when he had to lead in Derry in the early 1970s, it’s a thing he did and for me it’s a badge of honour, but he also led the people when it came to peace”.
“It’s a very sad day, I would consider myself a good friend of Martin and when I heard the news I was devastated.”
Book of condolence
In the Museum of Free Derry in the Bogside, a book of condolence has been opened in memory of McGuinness.
Among the artefacts on display is a model of a round tower, constructed by McGuinness while in Portlaoise Prison in 1974, and donated by him to the museum a few weeks ago.
“We’d been left with a major gap in the finances of over £500,000 at one stage, and we met with him and his advisors and he said he’d make it happen,” Doherty says. “That’s the only reason this museum is open today.”
McGuinness was scheduled to co-officiate at the formal opening of the museum with President Michael D Higgins in May.
“He never actually saw the finished product, though I know he said if he did rally one of the things he wanted to do was to have me and John take him through the museum.”
Kelly says McGuinness was a renowned character in the Bogside area and “one of the most approachable people I’ve ever met”.
“I remember the time he ran for president [in 2011] and I wasn’t too happy, to be truthful,” he said.
“I didn’t want to see him being lost from the North because he was vitally important to the peace process and I didn’t want him to become president, I wanted him to stay where he was.”
