Mr. John Teggart:

I liked the comment from Senator Currie. That is exactly what has happened. New lies have been started with these vexatious investigations. One of the questions asked was about the difficulties then and now. Things would have been different if we had had a proper investigation. If the soldiers at one of these massacres had been properly investigated, and if the courts had been more sympathetic to the families without taking the word of the army at the time, I wonder how many people's lives would have been saved at the likes of Bloody Sunday and events all through the conflict of the Troubles. The committee has to remember it was the army and the likes of its generals who were putting out statements about our loved ones right away, from the first shot, saying they were gunmen and gunwomen. If things had been done differently in the courts and they had been made accountable, and if the Attorney General of the day had been more forthcoming for anybody who committed a crime, whether it was the army or whatever, things would have been different throughout the conflict.

Senator Currie also asked about what the committee can do for us. Obviously the families have been successful in getting the inquest, in correcting history to show our loved ones were entirely innocent and in vindicating their good names. We would hope the same help, the same resources and the same laws would be available to others. Members have to remember the inquests at that time were a sham. They did not call eyewitnesses. Mr. Ó Muirigh can expand on this. The RUC did not interview military witnesses and things like that. That is where we were at. We were treated really badly. One example of how the courts were, although it changed subsequently, was that when my mother went for a civil case at a very early stage she was told by the judge that because my daddy was not working at the time she would have one less mouth to feed and would actually be financially better off. Those were the kinds of judges, and that was the kind of legal system, that we had at the time.

Deputy Carroll MacNeill asked how we were treated at the inquest. From the very start the families had requested a meeting with the legacy department in the Laganside courts for the inquest. It was very helpful. It will set a precedent for what others should be entitled to. They were very family-orientated. They brought us all into the meeting and we asked for a few things. We did not get them all but we got basically what was needed for the families, like a family room as somewhere for the families to go. We brought in the Listening Ear service and things like that. Even at the end, they familiarised the families with the courts. All these things were done and I congratulate the coroners service on the way it worked with the families. I hope it is the precedent for others coming forward. I will give somebody else a chance to talk.