Saville ‘must be published soon’
The new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson has said the Saville report into Bloody Sunday must be published as soon as possible.
Mr Paterson is due to arrive in Belfast after the first cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The Bloody Sunday Inquiry finished hearing evidence in 2004 but the report has still not been given to parliament.
Relatives of those killed and injured on Bloody Sunday expressed disappointment when it was announced in April that the publication of the report would be delayed until after the general election.
The former Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, had previously expressed a hope that the report could be published before the election.
Thirteen people died after paratroopers opened fire during a civil rights march in Londonderry in January 1972. Another person died of his injuries some time later.
The inquiry into the events of that day, led by Lord Saville, began in 2000 and finished hearing evidence in 2004.
Speaking ahead of his visit to Belfast, Mr Paterson said all those involved deserved to see the report.
“We want to see Saville published in as sober and sensible and measured a manner as possible because there are great implications here for the families.
“They have waited such a long time, the families of the victims and the soldiers.
“We would like to see this published as soon as we can but in very good order.”
On Thursday, SDLP Foyle MP Mark Durkan said the new NI secretary of state’s “first priority must be the publication of the Saville Report”.
Mr Durkan said that “Owen Paterson is already familiar with this place and its politics”.
He said: “Publishing the Saville Report could be his first major parliamentary outing as secretary of state.
“I believe that he now has some appreciation that how the report is published and received will be a test of him, the new government, his own party and parliament,” he said.
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