Ex-IRA man names top Provos in inquiry

A former IRA man who claimed Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness was involved in supplying detonators for nail bombs on Bloody Sunday today named the top Provisionals in Derry at the time.

Paddy Ward, who claims he was the leader of the Fianna – the youth wing of the IRA in January 1972 - provided the names confidentially to the Saville Inquiry.

Mr Ward also named the members of the Creggan Fianna who he claims intended to attack city centre premises on the day of the civil rights march.

He confirmed he told a journalist that Mr McGuinness, the second in command of the IRA in the city at the time, and another provisional, Sean Keenan, gave him the bomb parts just hours before 13 civilians were shot dead by soldiers.

However, in a statement to the inquiry’s lawyers, he later changed the name of Mr Keenan to that of his brother, Colm Keenan, who is now dead.

Mr McGuinness has dismissed Mr Ward’s claims as “fantasy”, while Gerry O’Hara, a Sinn Féin councillor in Derry has claimed that he was the leader of the Fianna at the time.

Mr Ward, who was screened from public view as he gave evidence, claimed he gave two nail bombs to 17-year-old Bloody Sunday victim Gerard Donaghy several hours before he was shot dead.

He was presented with a list of eight names of alleged associates of Mr Donaghy, seven of which Mr Ward claimed were in the Provisional IRA at the time of Bloody Sunday.

Mr Ward originally refused to reveal the identities of the men, insisting that many of them had now moved on and their current families or friends may not know of their past.

However, he was assured by Lord Saville that the names would remain private to the inquiry.

“I misunderstood the question in the sense of the privacy issue to the tribunal, I will not have a problem with that,” Mr Ward replied.

Lord Saville said: “What we would normally do is ask you to write down on a piece of paper that we will keep private to ourselves, the information that Mr Clarke has requested.”

“Yes, I can do that,” he replied.

In answer to a question from Christopher Clarke, QC, Senior counsel to the inquiry, Mr Ward said he would have “no problem” naming the officers of the IRA in Derry on Bloody Sunday.

Mr Ward claimed he distributed 16 nail bombs on January 30, 1972 when 13 civil rights marchers were shot dead by soldiers. A 14th man died later.

Since Mr Ward submitted his statement to the inquiry, eight others have been received which contradicted his account.

Until earlier this month, Mr McGuinness was the only self-confessed IRA man to have come forward to the £150m (€215m) inquiry.

But three others who have admitted being members of the Provisionals on Bloody Sunday have also now made statements, with a fourth expected later.

The four IRA men are Gerard Doherty, Eddie Dobbins, Sean Keenan, and Michael Clarke, who has said he will submit a statement later.

Fianna members Patsy Moore and Gerry O’Hara, a current Sinn Féin councillor in the city, have also submitted statements.

Mr O’Hara, a former northern chairperson of the party, has claimed he was the leader of the Fianna on Bloody Sunday, directly contradicting Mr Ward’s version of events.

The Sinn Féin councillor said he was given an order that no action was to be taken against the security forces on the day and that order was followed.