Sinn Féin's Mr Martin McGuinness today confirmed publicly for the first time he was the IRA's second in command in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
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Mr Martin McGuinness
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He said he had given a statement to the Bloody Sunday tribunal that also said the IRA did not engage with the British army on Bloody Sunday and that there were no IRA units in the area of the march.
Asked at a news conference at Sinn Féin headquarters in West Belfast if he had told the inquiry headed by Lord Saville he was the IRA's Number two in Derry on Bloody Sunday, he replied "yes".
Mr McGuinness in his statement to the tribunal said: "I have given a very full and very frank and very honest account of what I was doing on Bloody Sunday."
He declined to give details of what had been in the draft statement sent to the tribunal, but did say he could dismiss as "rubbish and lie" claims from certain quarters that IRA men had been shot on Bloody Sunday and been buried in secret across the Border in theRepublic.
Mr McGuinness said he had decided to give evidence and facequestioning at the tribunal being held in the Derry Guildhall because so many other witnesses hadalready been asked about what he was doing on that day.
Mr McGuinness said he wanted to see the truth of what happened on Bloody Sunday coming out as much as anyone else.
PA