Bloody Sunday Official Report

[SMEE]

So....in the next hour, the report, which took 12 yrs, into Bloody Sunday is to be made public. The real stomach churning part is, it has cost ?200 MILLION!!!!!!!

So....i for one would like to see the breakdown of the costs for this report. Al wager, that a lot of the costs must have been to line the pockets of grossly overpayed cprivate consultants and Lawyers etc. I just cant believe ANYTHING is worth wasting ?200M on, coz, its not going to change anything, and will only state what we already knew. What good will it do?

Edited June 15, 2010 by SMEE

[caley100]

Yeah, cant believe this has taken so long to complete, the lawyers will have their nice holiday chalets paid by this for sure.

However, this will not be the end, now that blame can be apportioned we will will surely see a glut of lawsuits which will of course line the pockets of lawyers - again.

[DornochCaley]

It is criminal that these greedy ******** have taken advantage of the tragedy.

[Yngwie]

Perhaps we need a public enquiry to determine whether this report took too much time and money.

[Alex MacLeod]

Cost closer to ?400m than 200. Time taken a disgrace but part of that due to people (Para's and others) stalling for as long as they could and then having the enquiry move from Derry to London for so called security reasons. Add to that every so often along the way a new witness would come forward so the enquiry would have to reconvene and build on evidence gained.

The enquiry was established by labour in 1998 but didn't get underway till 2000. The judges actually retired, after hearing all the evidence, at the end of 2004 yet it still took 6 years to publish the report. I think many people need to be held to account for this.

For the families of the kids killed on that day I hope this now satisfies their demands and that they can move on and be involved in the current process of building a united Ulster. I dont think any criminal and or civil retribution will do anything to further benefit the outcome and would likely only add more to the pain and suffering of the happenings of Jan 30th 1972.

[Tug]

Cost closer to ?400m than 200. Time taken a disgrace but part of that due to people (Para's and others) stalling for as long as they could and then having the enquiry move from Derry to London for so called security reasons. Add to that every so often along the way a new witness would come forward so the enquiry would have to reconvene and build on evidence gained.

The enquiry was established by labour in 1998 but didn't get underway till 2000. The judges actually retired, after hearing all the evidence, at the end of 2004 yet it still took 6 years to publish the report. I think many people need to be held to account for this.

For the families of the kids killed on that day I hope this now satisfies their demands and that they can move on and be involved in the current process of building a united Ulster. I dont think any criminal and or civil retribution will do anything to further benefit the outcome and would likely only add more to the pain and suffering of the happenings of Jan 30th 1972.

whilst i appreciate that this enquiry has no doubt given closure to the familes of the "Victims" involved i would also like to note that alot of what happened will never be fully understood and was down to the belief of the Paras at that time...they were in a highly stressfull situation be it rightly or wrongly and they had to make a choice knowing full well what the implications and outcomes would lead to...i very much doubt that any of them would have taken any decsion lightly

[HumbersideDude]

Cost closer to ?400m than 200. Time taken a disgrace but part of that due to people (Para's and others) stalling for as long as they could and then having the enquiry move from Derry to London for so called security reasons. Add to that every so often along the way a new witness would come forward so the enquiry would have to reconvene and build on evidence gained.

The enquiry was established by labour in 1998 but didn't get underway till 2000. The judges actually retired, after hearing all the evidence, at the end of 2004 yet it still took 6 years to publish the report. I think many people need to be held to account for this.

For the families of the kids killed on that day I hope this now satisfies their demands and that they can move on and be involved in the current process of building a united Ulster. I dont think any criminal and or civil retribution will do anything to further benefit the outcome and would likely only add more to the pain and suffering of the happenings of Jan 30th 1972.

whilst i appreciate that this enquiry has no doubt given closure to the familes of the "Victims" involved i would also like to note that alot of what happened will never be fully understood and was down to the belief of the Paras at that time...they were in a highly stressfull situation be it rightly or wrongly and they had to make a choice knowing full well what the implications and outcomes would lead to...i very much doubt that any of them would have taken any decsion lightly

Just a wee query, why did you put the word victims in " ". The way I understand the outcome of the report, confirmed all the people shot (bar one who had had contact with a nail bomb previous to the shootings), were innocent of any wrong doing. Making them victims. Not "victims"

[The Mantis]

Agree with DD, but another thing Tug- this was nearly 40 years ago. The culture nowadays may be all about risk assessment, accountability, litigation etc, but back then it was very different. I'm sure some of these paras believed that 'these paddies deserve all they get'. If you spoke to the average Rangers supporter/orangeman back then, some of whom just happened to be in the army, you would get a wee flavour of that.

[caley100]

I'd agree with that Mantardo(a.k.a. mantis ) judging the past by todays rules is not fair nor reasonable.

I worked in Norn Irland 3-4 days a month for 5 years in the late 80's early 90's and saw my fair share of violence and bombings, getting stopped by army checkpoints in Armagh at gunpoint frequently, soldiers asking me what i was doing/staying etc, i told a soldier the hotel i stayed in and he more of less told me it was a 'fenian' hotel and get the feck out as it was being watched.

At that time it was 'us and them' mentality and if anyone got shot 'they probably deserved it'.

Edited June 18, 2010 by caley100

[+DoofersDad]

As Alex says, cost closer to ?400 million than 200. Original estimate was ?200 million but the lawyers get double time for Sundays.

Seriously though, and this is a very serious subject, I don't think this looking back and trying to get at the "truth" serves any purpose. You never get the whole truth and the what emerges is not necessarily going to help anyone. This inquiry may have helped some families achieve closure but their pronouncements of justice being done only serve to open up the wounds for very many more whose loved ones were murdered by the paramilitaries on both sides of the divide and for whom there will never be hope of justice. It would be far, far better to have spent the money on building a future rather than in digging up the past.

[Alex MacLeod]

The ones who were fataly wounded on that day averaged 18 years old. Meer kids. Some of those behind the guns were no older. Meer kids. I hope the families of the deceased find closure in the outcome and draw a line on the whole thing. I'm also sure that it would not be in the interest of anyone to use this report as a reason for any actions against those behind the guns. They were under orders, ultimately from the government of this lands, so if anyone should stand trial for this its the PM of the day.

[Yngwie]

As Alex says, cost closer to ?400 million than 200. Original estimate was ?200 million but the lawyers get double time for Sundays.

:(

[The Mantis]

LoL at DoofersDad and wondering when Kingsmills will be along to answer this slur on his profession :lol:

Today's Herald has some interesting letters on the subject.

Edited June 19, 2010 by Mantardo

[TheKnowledge]

As Alex says, cost closer to ?400 million than 200. Original estimate was ?200 million but the lawyers get double time for Sundays.

I sniggered there.

[Tug]

the reason i chose to say "Victims" is that despite any inquests and whatever outcomes we will never know the truth

as has been stated the dead averaged 18 years old and its accepted that many of the soldiers were of the same age this is a situation that they should not have been placed in in my eyes and also further to that do we know what state many of these people are now int(The soldiers obviously) granted there may well have been one or two cases of yeah lets go get them ha ha but i would lay pound to a penny that there were more cases of we best do something here because im petrified and i dont want to get shot at

at the end of the day there are two sets of victims from this those that died and those that have to live with the consequences of having to live with the choices made by the commanding officers

[Alex MacLeod]

the reason i chose to say "Victims" is that despite any inquests and whatever outcomes we will never know the truth

as has been stated the dead averaged 18 years old and its accepted that many of the soldiers were of the same age this is a situation that they should not have been placed in in my eyes and also further to that do we know what state many of these people are now int(The soldiers obviously) granted there may well have been one or two cases of yeah lets go get them ha ha but i would lay pound to a penny that there were more cases of we best do something here because im petrified and i dont want to get shot at

at the end of the day there are two sets of victims from this those that died and those that have to live with the consequences of having to live with the choices made by the commanding officers

Thats the nature of the beast Tug and, as you well know, it is still the very young who are being affected by war. Then it was Ireland, now its Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Tug]

the reason i chose to say "Victims" is that despite any inquests and whatever outcomes we will never know the truth

as has been stated the dead averaged 18 years old and its accepted that many of the soldiers were of the same age this is a situation that they should not have been placed in in my eyes and also further to that do we know what state many of these people are now int(The soldiers obviously) granted there may well have been one or two cases of yeah lets go get them ha ha but i would lay pound to a penny that there were more cases of we best do something here because im petrified and i dont want to get shot at

at the end of the day there are two sets of victims from this those that died and those that have to live with the consequences of having to live with the choices made by the commanding officers

Thats the nature of the beast Tug and, as you well know, it is still the very young who are being affected by war. Then it was Ireland, now its Iraq and Afghanistan.

but it doesnt make it any more right im not attempting excuse what they did just trying to say that really this sort of case is only truly understood by the people that were there and involved.the length of time has led to memories becoming altered and not wishing to speak i'll of the dead but i think records would show therre would have been a good chance that the potential for them to have become more involved in the hostilities would have been high