Bloody Sunday Inquiry costs £100m in lawyers

Almost £100m (€119m) has been spent on lawyers at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in the North, it was revealed today.

The mammoth bill follows a decade of work but represents over half the total expenditure on the long-running probe.

A panel led by law lord Lord Saville has been probing the shooting dead of 13 civil rights protesters by paratroopers in Londonderry in January 1972.

Conservative Party Northern Ireland spokesman Owen Paterson said: “At such a difficult time this seems like an extraordinary amount of money.

“Everyone is watching their spending as the country descends into a recession and so should this Inquiry.

“I am very keen for a swift conclusion for the benefit of all the relatives involved.”

The total of £98.4m (€117m) for Inquiry and British Ministry of Defence (MoD) lawyers was disclosed by Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward in the House of Commons.

The overall cost of the Inquiry has reached £182m (€216.7m).

Soldiers killed 13 people, with another dying later from his injuries. Nationalists said they shot innocent demonstrators, while the Army said its members came under fire from the IRA.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “It is deeply worrying that the Inquiry has run on for so long at such massive expense and there is still no end in sight.

“The Inquiry was always going to have to look at a lot of evidence but it is unfair to treat taxpayers like an endless pot of money.

“No good reason has been put forward for these endless delays and everyone needs to see some progress.”

Senior barrister QCs received £1,500 (€1,786) per hearing day including preparation time.

A spokeswoman for the Saville Inquiry said: “The bills from the outside lawyers have all gone through a scrutiny process.

“This was mostly accrued during oral hearings with the interested parties. We had four years of hearings and we have been in existence for ten years and we have carried out a significant amount of work.”

The total paid comprises £65.9m (€78.46m) incurred by the inquiry and £32.5m (€38.7m) incurred by the MoD.