Bloody Sunday inquiry puts off McGuinness decision

The Bloody Sunday tribunal decided today to delay taking legal action against Sinn Féin MP Martin McGuinness for refusing to reveal the names of fellow IRA members.

Inquiry chairman Lord Saville said they would continue the process of encouraging former paramilitaries to come forward of their own accord to give evidence.

If this happens, the significance of the Sinn Féin leader’s refusal to name names would no longer be of any significance, he said.

“Consequently, we take the view that the proper course for us now to take is to defer a consideration of the question until we have seen the results of the process to which I have referred.

“I repeat, the urgency and importance of that progress must be obvious to all," he added.

McGuinness, a self-confessed former IRA commander, has said he would rather die than disclose the identities of his former comrades.

Emerging from the Guildhall in Derry last night after two days of evidence, he declared: “I am prepared to go to jail. I would rather die than destroy my code of honour to the IRA.”

Lord Saville said today there was no legal basis for his declining to identify, even privately, those members of the Provisional IRA present on Bloody Sunday.

“We have given careful consideration overnight to the position that has arisen as a result of Mr McGuinness’s refusal to provide us with information as to the identity of the relevant individuals who must, on his evidence, include all or most of those who were members on the day in this city.

“Whilst at the same time calling on those individuals themselves to come forward, we should emphasise that our overriding aim is to ensure that those who are in a position to speak do come forward to do so, the aim which Mr McGuinness himself has repeatedly stated he shares”.

The Sinn Féin chief negotiator could ultimately be cited to the Northern Ireland High Court for contempt if those members do not come forward.

He continues to resist demands by the inquiry examining the events of January 1972 when Paratroopers shot dead 13 unarmed civilians. A 14th man died later.

Mr McGuinness, who has admitted he was second in command of the Provisionals during Bloody Sunday, said: “Am I going to be the only person in prison as a result of the murders of 14 people and the wounding of 13 others on Bloody Sunday?”