THE Tanaiste, Mr Spring, is to raise the need for a fresh inquiry into Bloody Sunday when he meets the Northern Ireland Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, in Belfast this afternoon.
The encounter takes place as unionist politicians add their voices to calls for the British government to apologise for the shootings or reopen the inquiry.
The Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Ken Maginnis, said "young soldiers untrained for public order duties appeared to lose their head" on Bloody Sunday but it would not happen nowadays.
While objecting to what he called the pan-nationalist demand for an inquiry, Mr Maginnis said: "Very obviously if the circumstances are as I believe them to be, it is appropriate for the government to make it clear that it does apologise for events in 1972."
However, a son of one of the Bloody Sunday victims said yesterday that the priority of the families of the 14 men shot by British soldiers a quarter of a century ago was for the government to initiate a public inquiry into the killings, rather than issue a public apology.
Mr Tony Doherty said: "The families have never demanded an apology. What we are campaigning for is a complete vindication of all the people murdered on Bloody Sunday and for a complete repudiation of the findings of the Widgery Tribunal and for the prosecutions of those who took part in the killings."
The Ulster Democratic Party leader, Mr Gary McMichael, said it was "difficult for us as unionists to become embroiled in the Bloody Sunday debate" but he added that "if there is evidence, then it should be heard".
Speaking to reporters at the Stormont multi-party talks, Mr McMichael said if the British government sought to ignore new evidence, "it would give the impression that they are running away from the problem".
The Progressive Unionist Party spokesman, Mr David Ervine, said: "I will state it very simply, why don't we know the truth and if there are elements of the truth we don't know, then we should know them and no stone should be left unturned so that the truth is borne in front of us.
"I hear complaints constantly about Bloody Sunday being hijacked. Well had it of course been dealt with adequately, there would be no capacity or possibility to hijack it.
There had been "many bloody days" in Northern Ireland. "We have got to begin to expurgate our guilt and our grief irrespective of which day an incident happened but certainly in the case of Bloody Sunday there are questions that need to be answered," Mr Ervine told broadcaster Eamonn Mallie.
Senior sources in Dublin said new evidence had emerged which cast further doubt on the findings of the Widgery inquiry and Mr Spring would be emphasising this to the Northern Secretary during their discussions.
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, however, said a new inquiry would not satisfy nationalist demands. "Even if they get the British government on their knees grovelling, there will be something else."
Mr Doherty said the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday had created a new awareness of the issue among unionists. "The fact that members of the unionist community are now coming to terms with what happened on Bloody Sunday is something the families of the dead would welcome.
"That doesn't mean that people have to go to prison. Personally I wouldn't be in favour of that, but if a prosecution process is the only way to establish the full facts of what happened, so be it.
"It would be ideal if the British government supported an independent inquiry," Mr Doherty said.