Kenny disappointed that no independent review of Ballymurphy deaths

Truth still eludes the relatives of the 11 people killed in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, between August 9th and 11th, 1971, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

Mr Kenny also reiterated the Government’s disappointment with the decision by Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers in April last year not to establish independent reviews, including one into events in Ballymurphy on the night internment was introduced.

During a debate on Ballymurphy, he called on the authorities in the North and Britain to deal with such incidents “in a manner and a timescale that meets international human rights standards”.

The suffering of the bereaved “has been compounded by the anguish caused by the failure, to date, to establish the truth about the tragic events which occurred almost 44 years ago”.

Relatives of those killed in Ballymurphy and of the victims of the McGurk’s Bar bombing in December 1971, in which 15 people were killed, attended the debate, as did British ambassador Dominick Chilcott.

In an emotional address, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams recalled being in Ballymurphy on the night of the killings.

Thousands of British soldiers supported by the RUC “smashed their way into hundreds of homes”.

Mr Adams said he watched his own home being smashed into and male members of his family being dragged off. “The house was occupied for days by the Parachute regiment. They destroyed everything,” he said.

“They shit on beds. They urinated on wardrobes. They broke up family and religious memorabilia. They dragged away over 300 men and boys into the night many of them later to be tortured.”

Ten people were shot dead, including a mother of eight. Mr Adams named them: Fr Hugh Mullen, Francis Quinn, Daniel Teggart, Joan Connolly, Joseph Murphy, Noel Phillips, Edward Doherty, John Laverty, Joseph Corr and John McKerr.

“An 11th man, local community worker Paddy McCarthy, died from a heart attack after a British army patrol subjected him to a mock execution.”