Tánaiste comments on new Channel 4 revelations about Bloody Sunday

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dick Spring, T.D., has issued the following statement about the revelations made on this evening's Channel 4 News about Bloody Sunday.

"The account of the events of Bloody Sunday given by a former member of the Parachute Regiment on this evening's Channel 4 News raises very serious questions which require urgent attention. His description of how testimony was allegedly tailored to support a particular version of what happened in Derry on Bloody Sunday is especially disturbing.

These new revelations, together with the other pieces of evidence that have recently come to light, provide a compelling case for a reexamination of the circumstances behind the Bloody Sunday killings.

Today's revelations will form part of the Government's assessment of the new Bloody Sunday material. As I indicated at last week's Anglo-Irish Conference, our interim assessment of this material - one that is amplified by this latest testimony - suggests that the Widgery Tribunal's report on bloody Sunday was seriously flawed. Taken together, the various pieces of new evidence point to a radically different version of events to that presented as the official version in the Widgery Report. After 25 years, there is a clear need for these tragic events to be satisfactorily explained and for the sense of grievance felt by the relatives to, at last, be redressed". Top