Sir, - As a Derryman who participated in the Bloody Sunday march 25 years ago and as a former official of the Department of Finance, I welcome the statement from Ms Liz McManus, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment (The Irish Times, January 22nd), that she has requested the Ministers for Foreign Affairs to assess fully any evidence emerging in relation to the horrific events of that day.
May I suggest that Dick Spring's "assessment" goes further? Will he arrange for searches to be made in his own department and in the departments of An Taoiseach, Justice and Defence for report (including photographic evidence) supplied by Irish military and/or Garda observers present in Derry on Bloody Sunday, and will he further arrange for such material to be now made public?
I heard of the existence of such material in the course of my civil service duties and I now believe that justice and the public good (the grounds cited in the Official Secrets Act) dictate that I break my silence in the matter. I also, of course, owe it to the innocent dead. - Yours, etc.,
Wheatfields Court,
Dublin 22.