A lawyer for Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein was told yesterday that his client must provide a statement to the inquiry before he could be granted legal representation as an interested party.
Making the first appearance for Mr McGuinness at the inquiry, Mr Barra McGrory, a Belfast solicitor, applied for "full interested party status" for his client, saying his position as a witness was "quite exceptional".
Mr McGrory, who said his services had been called on only in recent weeks, said grave allegations had been made against Mr McGuinness, including a suggestion that he had "fired the first shot" on Bloody Sunday. In those circumstances, "where the entire blame for this incident could fall on this man's head", his client should be granted adequate representation.
That would mean at least two or three experienced lawyers, who would need "some considerable time" to come to grips with the inquiry material. It would not be fair to ask Mr McGuinness to make his statement before he had the benefit of considered legal advice. He was able to confirm, however, that Mr McGuinness intended to make a statement and intended to give evidence to the tribunal.
The chairman, Lord Saville, listed the dates of six letters which had been sent by tribunal lawyers to Mr McGuinness over the past 18 months asking him to provide a statement and pointing out that he was entitled to have a legal representative present while he did so. No reply had been received. He asked Mr McGrory why his client had been "unable or unwilling" to provide a statement to date. "We are quite unconvinced that it would be any injustice at all to Mr McGuinness were he to provide . . . a statement of his recollections of, during and concerning Bloody Sunday," said Lord Saville.
That was a request which had been answered by hundreds of other witnesses. The tribunal would be "extremely likely" to grant some form of legal representation to Mr McGuinness, but until he gave a full statement it was difficult to see what form of representation should be granted.
Mr McGrory argued that "a permanent presence within this tribunal of an experienced lawyer would be absolutely vital to Mr McGuinness before he makes a statement". It had been said of his client that he was OC of the IRA in Derry on the day and that he had allegedly admitted to someone code-named "Infliction" that he fired the first shot.
His client was "a person, like it or not, of public importance in this jurisdiction". He was a senior Sinn Fein representative, a negotiator of the Belfast Agreement, a Minister of Education in the Northern Ireland administration and an MP.
After a brief recess, Lord Saville said the tribunal disagreed fundamentally with the suggestion that any injustice would be caused by requiring Mr McGuinness first to provide a statement.
The tribunal ruled against the application for full party status for Mr McGuinness "unless and until he provides this tribunal with a statement of his recollection of, during and concerning the events of Bloody Sunday".
A Knights of Malta ambulance man described how he gave emergency treatment to wounded and dying people on Bloody Sunday as he waited for the arrival of ambulances and resuscitation equipment.
Mr James McDaid (76) first treated a youth in the William Street area who had a gunshot wound to his leg (later identified as Damien Donaghy).
He was then called to treat a man with a minor gunshot wound in his arm (a casualty not previously described at the inquiry).
The inquiry continues today.