The 5,000-page Bloody Sunday report was finally completed yesterday, although it may not now be published until after the British general election expected in May.
After 12 years and at a cost of £200 million, the Bloody Sunday inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville, was at last able to announce approval was yesterday given for the final proofs of the report.
The tribunal is charged with trying to establish the truth behind how and why British soldiers killed 13 people on Bloody Sunday on January 30th, 1972, with a 14th man dying some months later.
The tribunal in a statement yesterday evening said publication would be a matter for Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward. At the beginning of the month Mr Woodward said he hoped to publish the report within days of receiving it. But in a written statement to the House of Commons yesterday he signalled that the Westminster elections would put back publication until some time in May or June.
Mr Woodward and the tribunal separately outlined how the Northern Secretary shortly will be appointing a small team of lawyers and officials to examine the report ahead of publication to ensure that it does not “jeopardise national security or the human rights of any individual”.
“The tribunal will shortly be making copies of the report available to those officials, on a strictly confidential basis, at the premises of the inquiry, solely for the purpose of enabling them to give their advice to the secretary of state about those matters,” the tribunal said in its statement.
“Once the checking process is complete, a publication date can be set and the report can be printed,” said Mr Woodward.
“It is, of course, possible that a general election might be called in the meantime. Lord Saville has informed me that if it becomes clear that it will not be possible for the report to be published in advance of the dissolution of parliament, the tribunal will agree to retain custody of the report until after the general election,” he added.
Mr Woodward said on the day of publication he would offer advance sight of the report to a single member of each of the Bloody Sunday families and to their legal representatives. He would offer the same facility to “those soldiers most centrally involved in the subject matter of the inquiry”.
Owen Paterson, the British Conservative spokesman on Northern Ireland, expressed support for putting back publication. “We understand the frustrations of all those connected to the report about further delays. However, we believe emphatically that it needs to be published and considered in a sober manner in the calmer weeks following an election,” added Mr Paterson.
Former SDLP leader Mark Durkan said Mr Woodward’s statement raised questions about the date of publication. The Foyle MP said the Bloody Sunday families still resented and rejected the “idea that British government officials should have a prior, long access to the report as opposed to the few hours being accorded to them”.
The Liberal Democrat spokesman Alistair Carmichael said Mr Woodward’s statement on the Bloody Sunday report appeared to be “entirely sensible”.