Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has told British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that any delay in publishing the Saville report on Bloody Sunday is unacceptable.
Mr McGuinness met the Prime Minister in London along with Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, after the mammoth dossier from Lord Saville was made available to British government lawyers today.
13 people died after paratroopers opened fire during a civil rights march in Derry in January 1972. A fourteenth person died of injuries some time later.
Mr McGuinness said the imminent announcement of a general election should not be used by the British government as an excuse to delay the publication of the report.
He said the families had already faced years of frustration in seeking the truth.
After 12 years of the Saville Inquiry there should be no further delays, he said.
Government lawyers are to check the contents of the report for material which could pose a threat to life or national security ahead of publication.
Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward confirmed the development in the House of Commons.
‘Without the Saville Inquiry, there would have been no stable peace process,’ he said.
‘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.’
Once the report has been checked, Lord Saville will hand it to the Northern Secretary for publication. This may be delayed until after a general election in Britain.
SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan said Mr Woodward's comments were a clear indication that Lord Saville has now absolutely completed the report from his point of view.
He repeated that family members do not accept or trust the role of government lawyers, particularly from the Ministry of Defence or MI5, 'checking' the report for human rights infringements on behalf of the Secretary of State.
‘Moreover, some are now questioning why this 'checking' should take place in these weeks if there is not a definite commitment to publish the report 'within days' as the Secretary of State declared on his recent visit to Derry. Nor is there any definite commitment to publish the report before Parliament is dissolved’, Mr Durkan said.
‘They have noted that voices in the Westminster opposition have said that the report should not be published in advance of the election and are worried that the Secretary of State sounds less committed to doing so than he previously indicated. It would therefore be helpful if the Secretary of State could offer reassurance on his intentions and clarity on his expectation.’
