Row erupts over 'inquiry industry'

The DUP member said he has been consistent in his approach to the "inquiry industry" and refuted an allegation by Mr Douglas - a member of Limavady Borough Council - that he had forgotten about the victims of the Claudy bomb.

Mr Campbell said he has been on record on numerous occasions in calling for the truth to come out on the Claudy bomb and that he has called for a thorough investigation following last August's Ombudsman's report into the atrocity.

The Burnfoot-based Alderman Douglas hit out after the MP urged the Secretary of State Owen Paterson to say "we've reached the end of the inquiry road" and call it a day in terms of expensive tribunals into the past.

He said an inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989 would be opposed by nationalists and republicans and would encourage unionists to call for an inquiry into the conduct of the Irish Republic during the Troubles.

Mr Douglas subsequently fumed: "I was astounded by recent press coverage where Gregory Campbell urged the Secretary of State Owen Paterson to call it a day on inquiries.

"The East Londonderry MP cited the Pat Finucane case as an example as how public funds might be wasted.

"Following the Saville inquiry which cost in the region of 200 million the majority would be opposed to such a waste of public funds but the families and victims of the Claudy Massacre in July 1972, who have been seeking an inquiry following the Police Ombudsman's Report published recently, will be deeply disturbed at their MP's statement."

Mr Douglas said it was evident that the nationalist community did not want an inquiry because "of the involvement of Mr Chesney and the role of the Roman Catholic Church."

He said the families of those who died and were injured felt betrayed by the government for the cover up because of the alleged involvement of a parish priest.

"It is quite clear from the Ombudsman's Report that there is enough evidence to support convictions of those who planted the three bombs in Claudy.

"Since the publication of the Ombudsman's Report the only Unionist public representative to seek an inquiry was Councillor Mary Hamilton, herself a victim of the atrocity with the MP for the constituency only asking for the Roman Catholic Church to apologise.

"How things have changed, where does the East Londonderry MP stand?" he asked. "We know he was elected in 2001 as a strong NO Man to Terrorists in Government and in 2005 on a manifesto which pledged mandatory coalition with Sinn Fin was out of the question, has he also forgotten about the victims of Claudy?"

Mr Campbell hit back at Mr Douglas asking him to read his comments in the House of Commons in their entirety.

He commented: "Boyd Douglas must not have looked at the reality of the Inquiry industry. Just as he must not have read all of my statement in the House of Commons especially the relevant bit which is as follows; 'Any decision by him (the secretary of state) to hold a further, restricted inquiry-for example, into the Pat Finucane incident - would be opposed on the one hand by nationalists and republicans, but regarded by others as a prerequisite for long-standing grievances, against the Irish Republic's Government, for example, to be inquired into. Is it not more sensible and consistent for the Secretary of State to say, "We've reached the end of the inquiry road."'

Mr Campbell referred to the 200million spent on the Bloody Sunday inquiry and the more than 100million spent on other inquiries.

"All this at the time of the incoming Conservative Government indicating that it would not be in favour of any more costly Inquiries while Gerry Adams is demanding one for the Ballymurphy incident in the early 1970's, others are saying likewise for the Pat Finucane case," he stated.

"There are numerous other demands from a range of republicans for never ending inquiries most of which are aimed at deflecting criticism away from the principal protagonists throughout the troubles, the Provisional IRA, and on to the response from the Security Forces," he said.

Mr Campbell said he believed every unionist and many nationalists would not wish to "proceed down the road of this revisionism that republicans wish us to travel."

"I am on the record on numerous occasions as calling for the truth to come out on the Claudy Bomb, I have also called for a thorough investigation following the Ombudsman's report.

Boyd Douglas obviously isn't going to let the facts get in the way of a press release, but I will maintain that the public have had their fill of hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers money being spent on demands by republicans which are designed to deflect from their part in the violence of 30 years.

"This is especially the case when we are all going to be hit by the cuts that this same Government are beginning to implement.

"I have no difficulty in maintaining my sensible and consistent line in this and other matters, Cllr. Douglas and his colleagues were going to wreck Stormont now they say they are going to 'improve' it, sensible and consistent, they are not," he said.