The Bloody Sunday inquiry is continue into the New Year, it was confirmed today.
Tribunal chairman Lord Saville said it would not be possible to conclude all the evidence by December 19th, the date on which it was hoped to finish.
The inquiry into the killings of 13 unarmed civilians by members of the British army's Parachute Regiment in the Bogside area of Derry has already been taking evidence for more than three-and-a-half years.
Lord Saville said that lawyers for the inquiry were currently arranging interviews and taking statements from a number of new witnesses. He said that this was very time-consuming and had placed heavy demands on the resources of the inquiry solicitors, Eversheds.
The chairman added that there would come a time when the process of taking evidence had to end because the inquiry could not last indefinitely.
But he said it be wrong to treat the target date of December 19th as a cut-off point. The inquiry will resume after Christmas on Monday January 12th 2004.
Lord Saville said he could not say how long it would sit after that as it would depend on how long the process of taking statements would take but it was likely to be a number of weeks.
The inquiry had begun taking evidence in March 2000 and has heard from more than 860 witnesses. To date it has cost more than £120 million and by the end is expected to exceed £150 million.
PA