Taylor: Civil Rights body 'was terrorist cover'

Leading Ulster Unionist John Taylor has created further controversy at the Saville Inquiry in Derry by claiming that the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was a front for terrorists.

Mr Taylor, also known as Lord Kilclooney, said republicans had "infiltrated" the NICRA and insisted that the organisation gave two positions on its executive council to Sinn Féin and the Official IRA.

NICRA organised the civil rights march which ended with the deaths of 13 unarmed civilians on January 30, 1972.

The group has always insisted that it was a non-violent movement and had no connections with either the Official or the Provisional IRA.

Giving evidence on his second day of testimony today, Mr Taylor, a former deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, said: "The organisation was used as a cover for terrorists. . . NICRA wasn't just simply a civil rights movement, it was an organisation infiltrated by Irish republicanism."

Asked if he had documents to prove this, Mr Taylor insisted that he did, but that it may take hours for him to obtain it from his extensive papers.