The Five Demands

Il Segretario di Stato Owen Patterson ha partecipato al dibattito sul Rapporto Saville tenutosi a Westminster

A Westminster oggi si è dibattuto sulla controversia inchiesta sulla Bloody Sunday. Un’inchiesta durata 12 anni e costata alla casse del Regno Unito 200 milioni di sterline. Un’inchiesta che ha stabilito le vere responsabilità nella morta di 13 persone il 30 gennaio 1972. Un’inchiesta che lo scorso giugno ha costretto il Primo Ministro David Cameron ha chiedere ‘umilmente scusa’ per l’azione sconsiderata e ingiustificabile del Reggimento Paracadutisti del British Army.
“Non dovrebbero più esserci pubbliche inchieste e così costose”, ha dichiarato Paterson attirandosi le ire del suo predecessore laburista Shaun Woodward sostenitore del fatto che le indagini sono indispensabili nella costruzione della pace.
“Quindi dobbiamo immaginare che il Segretario di Stato abbia preso questa decisione a prescindere dalle circostanze secondo le quali non dovrebbe più esserci alcuna pubblica inchiesta, e dovremmo concedergli il beneficio del dubbio perché non è stato in grado di trasmettere tali informazioni alla famiglia di Pat Finucane, o alla gente di Ballymurphy, di Omagh o Claudy”, attacca Woodward e conclude: “Per quelli di noi in autorità, non dobbiamo mai confondere il prezzo della verità con il valore della verità”.

Il dibattivo a Westminster (Video)

Articoli Correlati

• Shaun Woodward makes Northern Ireland cuts warning (guardian.co.uk)
• Saville appearing at NI committee (bbc.co.uk)
• Lord Saville defends millions in fees to Bloody Sunday lawyers (telegraph.co.uk)
• Saville gives ‘inquiry evidence’ (bbc.co.uk)
• Saville speaks at last (sluggerotoole.com)
• Bloody Sunday debate exposes doubt and disagreement over dealing with Northern Ireland’s past (sluggerotoole.com)
• Saville ‘no regrets’ over inquiry (bbc.co.uk)
• Relatives due at Saville debate (bbc.co.uk)
• Woodward bombshell on Troubles legacy (sluggerotoole.com)
• Finucane result “soon” as Woodward attacks coalition for slow progress on legacy (sluggerotoole.com)

‘No more Saville-style inquiries’ – Paterson (U TV)
The Northern Ireland Secretary of State has told Parliament there should be no more open-ended Saville-style investigations into the past.
Owen Paterson was speaking during a debate on the controversial Bloody Sunday Inquiry, which was the longest of its kind in legal history and cost nearly £200m.
Lord Saville’s report into the deaths of 13 people, who were shot at a civil rights march in the Bogside area of Londonderry in January 1972, was delivered in June – 12 years after the inquiry was set up in 1998.
According to Mr Paterson, such excess should never be allowed again.
“As my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister has said, there should be no more open-ended and costly inquiries,” he said.
But the comments angered Labour’s former Northern Ireland Secretary, Shaun Woodward – who said inquiries were vital in building peace.
“So let us imagine that the Secretary of State has taken this decision regardless of the circumstances that there should be no more public inquiries, and let us give him the benefit of the doubt as to why he has not been able to convey that information to the family of Pat Finucane, or to the people of Ballymurphy,or Omagh or Claudy,” he said.
“To those of us in authority, let us never confuse the price of truth with the value of truth.”
Another former Northern Ireland Secretary said the peace process may not have happened without Saville’s investigation.
Paul Murphy said: “I haven’t the slight doubt that, had we not tackled the issue of Bloody Sunday in the way that we did, there wouldn’t have been a successful peace process.”