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14/03/2002
Kilclooney tells Bloody Sunday inquiry "gunmen" were shot
Former Stormont Minister John Taylor has told the Saville Inquiry that 13 gunmen were shot in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday.
He said: "There are those who now say that innocent people were shot, if that is so it is a tragedy." He added that there had been "no question of shooting unarmed civilians".
Lord Kilclooney's comments were made as he presented his evidence to the Inquiry on Thursday, 14 March. As a junior Home Affairs Minister, Lord Kilclooney sat on the Stormont Parliament's Joint Security Committee (JSC) alongside the province's Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner, and top-ranking police and military personnel.
Earlier Lord Kilclooney said that he believed responsibility for security in Northern Ireland was "slipping away" from Belfast to Westminster at the time of Bloody Sunday.
In his statement to the tribunal, the former UUP deputy leader said a meeting of the JSC three days before the shootings had reinforced his concerns. "Power was slipping away to London," he said.
In addition, although the army was supposed to provide back-up for the police, Lord Kilclooney claimed military chiefs may have withheld vital security information.
He stated: "As a Minister, I often felt that I was not getting the full story from the army, and there were times when I suspected that the army were not giving the RUC the full picture."
He also detailed to the Saville Inquiry his role as a minister in the old Northern Ireland government in the run-up to January 1972.
The Saville Inquiry is examining the events of 30 January 1972, during which 13 civilians were shot dead by British Army soldiers during a civil rights march in the city. A 14th person died later.
(AMcE/SP)
He said: "There are those who now say that innocent people were shot, if that is so it is a tragedy." He added that there had been "no question of shooting unarmed civilians".
Lord Kilclooney's comments were made as he presented his evidence to the Inquiry on Thursday, 14 March. As a junior Home Affairs Minister, Lord Kilclooney sat on the Stormont Parliament's Joint Security Committee (JSC) alongside the province's Prime Minister, Brian Faulkner, and top-ranking police and military personnel.
Earlier Lord Kilclooney said that he believed responsibility for security in Northern Ireland was "slipping away" from Belfast to Westminster at the time of Bloody Sunday.
In his statement to the tribunal, the former UUP deputy leader said a meeting of the JSC three days before the shootings had reinforced his concerns. "Power was slipping away to London," he said.
In addition, although the army was supposed to provide back-up for the police, Lord Kilclooney claimed military chiefs may have withheld vital security information.
He stated: "As a Minister, I often felt that I was not getting the full story from the army, and there were times when I suspected that the army were not giving the RUC the full picture."
He also detailed to the Saville Inquiry his role as a minister in the old Northern Ireland government in the run-up to January 1972.
The Saville Inquiry is examining the events of 30 January 1972, during which 13 civilians were shot dead by British Army soldiers during a civil rights march in the city. A 14th person died later.
(AMcE/SP)
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