Bloody Sunday relatives meet Robinson
The first meeting between Mary Robinson and relatives of the
Bloody Sunday dead took place in Aras an Uachtaran on Wednesday
28 May. Author Don Mullan accompanied the delegation and
presented Robinson with a copy of his book Eyewitness Bloody
Sunday which detailed the tragic events of January 30 1972.
Before the meeting Bloody Sunday Justice Group vice-chairman
Michael McKinney said he hoped the meeting will assist the
campaign for a new inquiry.
This is a reversal of previous policy whereby Robinson refused to
meet the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign, a policy which angered
nationalists who saw her refusal as dismissing nationalist
suffering.
Mullan's book is a vital collection of previously ignored and new
material about that day which is part of the Irish government's
upcoming dossier on Bloody Sunday, and which the campaign has
ensured has finally rubbished the British Widgery Tribunal.
It is a compilation of crucial evidence which provides the basis
for a new, independent investigation into the deaths.
In a separate development, Sinn Fein National Chair Mitchel
McLaughlin has offered to sponsor a Bloody Sunday relatives visit
to Westminster, using Sinn Féin councillors' allowances if Derry
council fails to finance their proposed visit. Tony Doherty of
the Bloody Sunday Trust described the offer as ``positive action''
on the issue.
The trip aims to maintain pressure for a new inquiry, and Derry
council had voted to pay for relatives accompanying the official
delegates, but this offer was withdrawn last week. McLaughlin
said this was an issue which the new Sinn Féin council team will
raise as an urgent issue.
Meanwhile the news that the son of the British Army commander
decorated for his role in the Derry massacre is to be posted to
the Six Counties has been condemned by Tony Doherty, who said
``It's a disgrace that this regiment continues to serve anywhere
in the North.'' Para Major Jamie Wilford's posting is seen as
particularly insensitive and stupid, given the international
effort to re-examine the massacre perpetrated by the Parachute
regiment.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)