Ballymurphy Families Meet Good Friday Agreement Implementation Committee
Posted by Jim on September 25, 2015
A delegation representing families of the Ballymurphy Massacre in 1971 will today meet with the Good Friday Agreement Committee in Dublin to discuss outstanding legacy issues affecting their quest for truth and justice for their loved ones. The families will tell the committee that delays and obstruction to the inquest process are unacceptable and impeding their right to truth and justice.
John Teggart, whose father Daniel Teggart was among those murdered by paratroopers and will lead the delegation to Dublin, said, “In 2011 the Attorney General, John Larkin QC, directed fresh inquests into the deaths of our loved ones after consideration of overwhelming new evidence submitted by our legal representative, including witness statements and new forensic evidence. Four years later we have yet to have these inquests heard. This delay has been caused by the wilful failure of the MoD and the PSNI to comply with their obligations to assist the inquest.”
Mr Teggart added, “The MoD have informed the Coroner that they cannot trace many of the soldiers involved in Ballymurphy. The PSNI also informed the Coroner as recent as the 31st July 2015 that the one member of staff assigned to our case had been reassigned to another case. Only after the threat of legal action was someone reallocated to our case. The delay has also been compounded by the under resourcing of the coronial system in the north of Ireland by the British Government and the Department of Justice.”
The families also had a message to the Northern parties, currently engaged in talks, “The Stormont House Agreement committed the Northern Executive to bring forward proposals to improve the inquest system. We call on this commitment to be fulfilled as a matter of urgency.”