Give Bloody Sunday families space and time: Durkan

Mr Durkan said: “There are channels and processes in which the families’ legal representatives and the MOD would now be engaged given the liability that has now been admitted.

“Those explorations and the consultations with the families need to be given their own space which politicians and the media should try to respect.

“Of course the fact that the MoD has made a statement in response to media reports makes it hard to avoid all comment – where MPs and other media are going to be sounding off from various angles.”

He said reports of legal correspondence should not be used as an excuse for misrepresentation of the Saville Report or questioning the terms of David Cameron’s statement.

“They should remember that such insensitive attitudes to the families of the dead and wounded on Bloody Sunday have served to aggravate the hurt and consequences of those unjustified and unjustifiable events.

“These same types also distressed the families by their readiness to jump in and sound off about the cost of Saville with no acknowledgement of its necessity,” he said.