Ballymurphy verdict ‘gives other campaigners hope’

John Teggart was speaking as the Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement visited the area in west Belfast.

The committee is comprised of MPs from Northern Ireland as well as TDs and senators from the Irish Republic.

The delegation, including West Belfast MP Paul Maskey, North Belfast MP John Finucane, South Belfast MP Claire Hanna and North Down MP Stephen Farry, met with families of some of the Ballymurphy victims.

Earlier this year, a fresh inquest concluded the 11 had been killed by the British Army and that they were all innocent victims.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued an apology to the families in the House of Commons for the series of shootings over three days which came in the wake of the introduction of internment in Northern Ireland.

Addressing the committee members at Corpus Christi Youth Club, Mr Teggart said it had been a “hard, long fight”.

But he said it has given other families seeking justice hope, as he condemned UK government’s proposals to end inquiries into the past as a “disgrace”.

The government plans to legislate this year on plans for a statute of limitations which would end all prosecutions for Troubles incidents up to April 1998 – and would apply to military veterans as well as ex-paramilitaries.

“Other campaigners told us that the Ballymurphy inquest and the outcome that all were entirely innocent gave them hope that it can be done,” Mr Teggart said.

“It was a hard, long fight, 50 years of a campaign, but it can be done.”

After the meeting, the committee members visit ed the spot where a 12th person, Paddy McCarthy, died of a heart attack in August 1971. His death was not included in the inquest.

Committee chair Fergus O’Dowd pledged to support the Ballymurphy families in their continuing battle for justice.

He told the PA news agency the committee members had been “deeply moved” by their visit to the area.

“There were 13 of us here, we listened extremely carefully to the families to hear the trauma and upset that is still clearly there and support fully their fight for justice and accountability and also for closure,” he said.

“We will all now go back to our parliaments, to our political parties and in the Oireachtas we will go forward together with a joint motion hopefully to make sure that no stone is left unturned to win the battle on behalf of the family for truth and justice after so many years.”

The committee members were also due to tour the Wave Trauma Centre during their visit to Belfast.