The bereaved families of 10 people shot dead by British soldiers have appealed to Taoiseach Enda Kenny to support their calls for an independent investigation.

Government and society must have the guts to confront past wrongs in the North if the region is to look to a better future, a senior Catholic Church leader said today.

The Catholic Church today backed calls for an independent inquiry into the British Army killings of 11 people in west Belfast almost 40 years ago.

Families of 11 people killed by the British Army six months before Bloody Sunday will meet the Northern Ireland Secretary, it was revealed today.