Mr. John Kelly:

I was asked about whether the historical investigations unit should have an input into the murder investigation. As far as we are concerned, we have come so far down the road the investigation has been ongoing for three years. I will give an example. When we met a representative of the PSNI last Wednesday, we were given a complete breakdown of where we were. Perhaps the committee will understand where I am coming from when I say we should not be involved with the historical investigations unit. Up until last week, of the 131 soldiers who have been identified as witnesses on the day, 27 are confirmed to be deceased, 55 have declined to engage or are not compellable, 34 have made witness statements and seven others are engaging. That is the position on the army witnesses. Of the 953 civilian witnesses who have been identified, 394 have passed away, 239 have declined to assist and 300 statements have been provided. Nearly 400 of those who witnessed the events of Bloody Sunday have passed away. I am trying to say we are coming to a point in this fairly indepth investigation at which we might be seeing the end of the journey. We have been told seven or eight military witnesses have yet to be interviewed. Some 26 of the 29 shooters are still alive and seven or eight of them will be interviewed under caution from mid-October onwards. We are looking at the investigation being finalised in a couple of months.

It would deplorable if we were slotted into the historical investigations unit. If we are, we will experience a knock-back, just as we have experienced previously in recent years. In other words, if there is a possibility that the historical investigations unit will take over, it will need time to re-examine all of the evidence. That would probably take months. It might take the unit a couple of years even to decide to look at the investigation into the Bloody Sunday murders. It is important to us that the investigation not be interfered with in any way. It should be allowed to run its course as it is nearly complete. The PSNI has almost completed its work. We are hoping it will be completed quite soon - perhaps early next year. Once it is complete, God knows what length of time it will take the PSNI to complete its report. It might take it a couple of months to do so. Then the matter will have to go back to the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland which will be responsible for making a decision on whether to prosecute. If the historical investigations unit steps in and takes over, everything will be put way back. We do not want that to happen.

We are coming up to 44 years since Bloody Sunday. The families have worked religiously for many years to ensure we come to the end of the journey. To be truthful, my family and I, like many other families, want prosecutions of the soldiers - the murderers and those who attempted to murder our people that day. It boils down to one word - justice. Justice has to be seen to be done. I will put it this way. The PSNI murder investigation is the only thing we have. We believe the PSNI authorities are the only ones who can deliver the end result and we are waiting patiently. By the way, we are very patient people. We have been waiting for nearly 44 years, which is a very long time. We are waiting to see the end of the process and do not want interference from anyone. It is as simple as that.

We were asked about meetings with other groups and so on. As Mr. Teggart rightly said, we have worked together for many years. We have worked with many other groups, including the Loughinisland and Ballymurphy groups. We have been passing on our own experience during the years to the other groups in the hope it will help them to achieve what they have set out to achieve. We are open to talk to anyone - no matter who he or she is - and pass on our experience to them.

I would like to make a point about what is in place for the families. At the time of Bloody Sunday, no counselling was provided for any of the families - the mammies, daddies and wives - who had lost loved ones that day. Nothing was done for them; they had to deal with it themselves. To be truthful, the families get very little, unless we approach people to ask them to help family members. A group in Derry, Cúnamh, has been very helpful duirng the years in counselling and preparing people to move forward in their lives. All I can say to the committee is that this is an everyday struggle for us. The sooner we see the end of the process and are able to move on with our lives, the better. I reiterate that there should be no interference whatsoever from anyone.