Abstract

The Bloody Sunday Inquiry has been epic in its scale and implications. This is the story of how it came about and of the hopes and suspicions which surround it, told from a uniquely personal point of view.

Twenty-one wounded survivors and relatives of the dead describe the campaign which led to the establishment of the Inquiry under Lord Saville. They reveal their bitterness at the 'whitewash' of the first inquiry under Lord Chief Justice Widgery, and describe the frustrations and elations of their long struggle to force the British Government to launch a new search for the truth.

The relatives comment sharply on Saville’s performance, and on the attitudes of British and Irish politicians, the media and an array of celebrity lawyers. They reflect on whether soldiers and leading politicians should now be prosecuted for murder, and discuss whether the outcome of the Inquiry is likely to hinder or enhance the peace process. Will the truth about Bloody Sunday raise more ghosts than it sets to rest?

This is the story of the longest legal proceedings in British or Irish history in the raw words of those most intimately involved. What they have to say puts a new focus on the significance of State atrocities in shaping perceptions of the past and aspirations for the future in Ireland.