Opinion

Bloody Sunday remarks inaccurate and insensitive

RECENT weeks have been a particularly difficult period for anyone who lost a loved one during the Troubles.

A British government plan to end prosecutions, inquests and other investigations relating to events prior to 1998 has heaped further pain on many families for whom grief remains a daily reality.

Victims from a range of backgrounds came together yesterday to make clear their opposition to the proposals, which depart significantly from the Stormont House Agreement.

Relatives of people killed by republicans and loyalists expressed their anger, with a protest to be staged outside Westminster next month.

As we report today, Bellaghy GAA club has also reiterated its support for the family of its former chairman Sean Brown, shot dead in shocking circumstances in 1997, in their ongoing quest for truth and justice.

It is a sad fact that barely a day passes without a grim reminder of the terrible human cost of our conflict.

Next week will mark 50 years since the series of army killings in west Belfast which became known as the Ballymurphy massacre.

It will be followed early next year by the same milestone for the Bloody Sunday families in Derry.

In both cases, relatives have maintained a long and dignified campaign on behalf of their loved ones.

In the case of Bloody Sunday, an exhaustive public inquiry confirmed the innocence of all those shot dead and British prime minister David Cameron apologised for the "unjustified and unjustifiable" events of Januar 1972.

An inquest into the deaths in Ballymurphy recently also ended with the clear finding that those killed were "entirely innocent of any wrongdoing".

It is therefore hugely disappointing for the TUV to defend inaccurate and highly insensitive remarks made by one of the party's assembly election candidates.

John Ross, a former member of the Parachute Regiment who is due to stand in east Belfast, was recorded on video in 2019 describing Bloody Sunday as a "very successful operation".

He also questioned whether those shot dead in Ballymurphy were innocent.

While there will inevitably be conflicting narratives around the Troubles, the events surrounding Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy have both been subject to rigorous examination and the conclusions unambiguously laid out.

This episode only serves to emphasise the folly of Boris Johnson's stated desire to 'draw a line under the Troubles', while the truth surrounding some of its most significant events continues to be denied.