Let us reach out to one another across our community

The ways in which people on different sides of the community have viewed the events of Bloody Sunday, and have interpreted their significance, has been a source of pain and tension over the past three decades. The publication of this Report now presents us with the possibility of some healing of those differences.

We need to make sure that we have listened carefully to the relatives of those who died on Bloody Sunday, as well as reading carefully Lord Saville's recounting of the circumstances in which their tragic deaths took place.

Having asked to meet with relatives of those who were killed on Bloody Sunday, I have spent time listening carefully to what they have said to me, and I have been struck by the depth of their distress, their desire to see the names of their loved ones cleared of the insinuation of culpability for the manner in which they died, and their plea that some key conclusions of the Widgery Report be shown conclusively to be inaccurate and unhelpful.

It is important that the families know that I, as a pastor, have heard how let down they feel by the way in which events were handled not only on that fateful Sunday, but also subsequently, and why it is so important for them now that the official historical record shows that a grave injustice was done to their loved ones and to their families.

We are aware that the cost and length of this Inquiry has been an issue. I am also deeply conscious of the desire of families of all who have lost loved ones in our Troubles to have a meaningful review of the tragic circumstances in which the lives of their loved ones were lost. I am of the view that at the heart of this Inquiry there is a pastoral and a human dimension which must be taken seriously by us all, primarily for reasons of justice, but also because of the potential for a significant step forward in our dealings with one another which this Report now offers.

As a consequence of this Report and of what will flow from it, we all now have the possibility of moving forward together with a more accurate and shared appreciation of one of the key moments of our turbulent and troubled shared history.

Let us reach out to one another across our community and build upon this understanding.