IRA ACTIVITY:LORD SAVILLE found that Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness was "probably" armed in Derry on Bloody Sunday, but that there was insufficient evidence to be able to judge whether or not he fired his weapon.
Lord Saville also dealt with how members of the Official IRA fired shots during Bloody Sunday.
Lord Saville was sure Mr McGuinness had not engaged in any activity that justified the actions of the support company of the British parachute regiment, responsible for the killings and woundings on Bloody Sunday.
Seven years ago, Mr McGuinness told the inquiry that he rejected “with all the strength that I can” allegations that he was armed with a Thompson sub-machinegun on the day.
At the time, Mr McGuinness clashed with the tribunal of inquiry by refusing to give details of IRA arms dumps and a safe house in Derry because he was bound by a republican code of honour.
Lord Saville said the inquiry considered at some length allegations that Mr McGuinness, who was second in command of the Provisional IRA on Bloody Sunday, “engaged in paramilitary activity during the day”. But he appeared minded to believe Mr McGuinness was armed on January 30th, 1972.
“Before the soldiers of support company went into the Bogside he was probably armed with a Thompson sub-machinegun, and though it is possible that he fired this weapon, there is insufficient evidence to make any finding on this, save that we are sure that he did not engage in any activity that provided any of the soldiers with any justification for opening fire.”
Lord Saville reported that the first shots fired were from the British army shortly before 4pm at William Street. Five shots were fired by two soldiers from a machine gun platoon. They wounded 15-year-old Damien Donaghy in the thigh, while, “unknown to the soldiers”, John Johnston was hit and injured by “fragments from this gunfire”. He died in June 1972, and his death is viewed as the 14th of Bloody Sunday.
Lord Saville said shortly after these shootings an Official IRA member fired a rifle shot from the side of a Presbyterian Church close to William Street. It missed soldiers and hit a drainpipe.
An anonymous witness and another Official IRA witness said the shot was in reprisal for the wounding of Donaghy and Johnston, but the tribunal was not convinced this was true. “In our view, these two Official IRA members had gone to a pre-arranged sniping position in order to fire at the soldiers, and probably did so when an opportunity presented itself”, said Lord Saville.
He reported that in a separate incident, a British soldier shot and wounded a member of the Official IRA. This was some 600 yards away from the area where the killings occurred. Lord Saville said a “soldier (in our view justifiably) shot at and injured an armed member of the Official IRA, ‘Red’ Mickey Doherty, who had immediately before fired at soldiers”.
In relation to the Provisional and Official IRA, Lord Saville concluded: “We examined in detail the organisation of the Provisional and Official IRA and the activities of members of those organisations on the day, since it was submitted on behalf of soldiers that, in effect, these activities justified the soldiers opening fire.
“With the exception of Gerald Donaghy, who was a member of the Provisional IRA’s youth wing, the Fianna, none of those killed or wounded by soldiers of support company belonged to either the Provisional or the Official IRA.”
