Mr. John Teggart:

I will respond to Deputies Crowe and Pringle. Deputy Crowe asks why would they not investigate. Although it was for some of the other witnesses, it really covers ourselves as well. From 1971 until now, there has never been any police investigation into the deaths of 11 civilians in Ballymurphy. At the time, the only input from the RUC was to take photographs in the morgue. That was their only input. At the inquest in 1972, any eye-witnesses' account that they had got from the British Army were handed over in a brown envelop, including their ciphered names. The British Army was not cross-examined at the time. Its statements were taken in good faith.

In our new inquest, we got disclosure of their redacted statements that were taken at the time. One example of that would have been the shooting of Eddie Doherty, who was shot in the back on 10 August 1971. The soldier's statement was that he had fired one, aimed and shot at a petrol bomber, but his real statement, which we have got hold of through our legal representative, showed he emptied the magazine. He fired over 30 rounds into the crowd and Eddie Doherty was shot in the back. He had just left his family in Turf Lodge, checking that they were okay with what had happened the night before with my father. Five other civilians, including a Catholic priest, Fr. Hugh Mullan, and a mother of eight, Ms Joan Connolly, were murdered.

I merely bring back to the committee the close proximity of what happened there. The Taoiseach stood exactly where my father was murdered. My father was shot 14 times as he lay on the ground. When I brought the Taoiseach to where my father was murdered in that incident, the Taoiseach stood at the spot and he looked across the road, because the width of the road is all the distance there was to where the 85 paratroopers were positioned. Maybe some of whom were the same ones involved in Bloody Sunday six months later. The Taoiseach stood there and he looked across, and said, "John, that is 25 yards.", and I replied, "I know." In addition, it was a bright summer's night. There was no justification for murdering any of these civilians. There was no follow-up forensics. There were no bullets. The swabs on their hands in the morgue came up all negative on involvement with any arms or gunfire. That is the investigation that we have had. Right up until today, as I stated earlier, succeeding chief constables refused to meet us and directed us to the Secretary of State.

Mr. Molloy asked what was our solution to or mechanism for this area. The inquests are good. As I stated earlier, they continue to be brought down due to resources. They are jam-packed and at present, they cannot work with their resources. There are supposed to be investigators for the coroners' courts. It has been asked for from the Attorney General in England and it still has not been put in place. They cannot go on the way they are. They need the resources and proper management to go through what we need, which is a proper inquest.

Our solution, as in the all-party motion in the Dáil this year, was an independent panel. It has been tried and tested by the Hillsborough families. It is cost-effective. We have brought it down to a cost of less than €0.5 million. To put it in perspective, it costs £40,000 for one night's security in north Belfast around the Twaddell camp. The policing for one night costs £40,000. If one adds that up over two weeks, it would more than cover investigating the deaths of 11 civilians in Ballymurphy. That is our solution. That is what we have put forward, but it was denied. As I say, it has been brought up recently with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan. Although the Government has been helpful and the Taoiseach fulfilled all his obligations for us, we need a proactive approach from the British Government, which, at present, is a Tory Government, to be really serious about dealing with the past. The British Government's record to date has been pathetic. We also need a proactive approach from the Irish Government, as an equal guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement.

It must push forward on behalf of victims like ourselves and others. We need justice.