Famiglie furiose per ennesimo ritardo del Rapporto Saville sul Bloody Sunday

Families angry after report delay

The Bloody Sunday families have expressed anger after it was announced that Lord Saville’s report into the 1972 shootings will not be released until after the General Election.

Lord Saville has been asked to keep the mammoth dossier on the Londonderry shootings until after the May 6 poll, the Northern Ireland Office confirmed on Tuesday.

Over the last two weeks Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shaun Woodward has had experts carrying out a legal check of the document prior to its publication.

It has now emerged no changes were recommended to the text, which was completed last month.

The legal checks were carried out with the co-operation of Lord Saville, who will now retain the report until a new government is elected. Mr Woodward said he had hoped to publish the report before an election being called, but had warned a delay was possible.

The delay was confirmed hours after Gordon Brown’s formal request to the Queen that Parliament be dissolved.

Families say it is the latest in a long and frustrating series of delays.

“I wasn’t actually surprised because a few of my family had spoken to (the SDLP’s) Mark Durkan and Mark actually told us that he thought it would be October (before the report is published). So we weren’t actually surprised”, Kate Nash, whose brother killed on Bloody Sunday, told UTV.

“It’s very, very frustrating and very sad. For me thank god I am still here. I have lived to tell the tale. We have waited 38 years for this; it’s just really, really frustrating”, Alana Burke, who was wounded on Bloody Sunday, said.

The NIO said Lord Saville will keep possession of the report and not to hand it over to the Government until the election has taken place.

A spokesman defended Mr Woodward’s handling of the issue: “The Secretary of State had no choice other than to comply with the law which obliged him to ensure that the final report was Article 2 (Right to Life) compliant.

“The Secretary of State is pleased that this process has confirmed that no redactions will have to be made to any of Lord Saville’s report.

“Therefore the Secretary of State has fulfilled his commitment that all of the Saville report will be able to be published as soon as is practicable after the General Election.”

Lord Saville’s inquiry was ordered by former Prime Minister Tony Blair 12 years ago and cost almost £200m.