RELATIVES OF those killed on Bloody Sunday in 1972 have criticised the latest delay in publication of the inquiry chaired by Lord Saville.
The Northern Ireland Office has confirmed the report on the killings would not now be released until after the Westminster election on May 6th. The inquiry has taken 12 years and publication has been subject to a series of delays.
Speaking on behalf of the families, John Kelly, whose 17-year-old brother Michael was shot dead on Bloody Sunday, expressed disappointment. “We were so close to receiving the report, almost at the finishing line, and now we will be made to wait even longer,” he said.
“The finger must be pointed at Secretary of State Shaun Woodward for the most recent delay as he insisted on these security checks – checks which we believed were totally unnecessary in the first place.”
He said the families had been told that no redactions had been made to the report and that no information relating to national security was removed. “We have been told that this means that the report will remain intact and families will see it as Lord Saville wrote it. It also reinforces the fact that these security checks were a complete and utter waste of time.”
Kate Nash, whose brother was shot dead by paratroopers on the day, said she no longer had confidence in the inquiry and she was trying to talk others in her family into “walking away from the whole thing”.