What remedy, what redress can there be when the law itself functions as a vehicle and a cover for injustice? Precious little, comes back the bitter chorus from a million unmarked graves. You may, like a certain learned law lord, simply refuse to contemplate such an "appalling vista". But the clamour for truth, rather than revenge, persists even when it seems too late for material justice.
For over two decades, Professor Dermot Walsh of the Law Department at the University of Limerick has developed a close analysis of the interaction between law and security policy in Northern Ireland. An early work was The Use and Abuse of Emergency Legislation in Northern Ireland, published in 1983. More recently, his detailed report, The Bloody Sunday Tribunal of Inquiry: a Resounding Defeat for Truth, Justice and the Rule of Law, was a crucial component of the Government's Report on Bloody Sunday which, in turn, was instrumental in persuading the British government to establish the new Bloody Sunday Inquiry, currently at hearing in Derry.
The focus now widens. In his new work, Professor Walsh fine-combs the latest evidence, long concealed, in relation to the Derry atrocity, and he reinforces and refreshes his critique of the first inquiry, presided over by the late Lord Widgery. But he goes much further, penetrating into areas of acute political and legal sensitivity. The critique of Widgery is set firmly in the broader context of the security policies of the Stormont and British governments. His thesis is that the law and justice system in Northern Ireland has repeatedly failed to provide a remedy for the worst excesses of the security forces.
Most disturbing is the assertion that this was a result of conscious and deliberate policy. His recurring theme, baldly stated, is "the cynical manner in which the political and military establishments have been willing to hijack the law and justice system as an integral part of their effort to crush mass opposition to the sectarian policies of the state and, later, the sustained attempt to overthrow the state by violence." This is indeed a sweeping charge. A lesser authority than Professor Walsh would be hard put to sustain it. But the careful scholarship he brings to bear adds up to a compelling book of evidence.
He reviews a range of cases and judicial pronouncements, before Bloody Sunday and since, which involved the use of lethal force against civilians by police or soldiers. Some victims were simply alleged to have tried to run away while being questioned; others were in cars alleged to have failed to stop when challenged; more were just unlucky enough to have been in the immediate vicinity of a bombing or shooting incident or an arms cache. In the few cases where charges were brought against members of the security forces, the judicial decisions in general turned on considerations of whether the troops/police had reasonable suspicions, were reasonably justified in opening fire, or reasonably held the belief that they were under threat.
In offering a comparative review of the various judgments, Professor Walsh notes a number of apparent inconsistencies and "grey areas". He "respectfully submits" that the thrust of the combined findings was to give immense discretion to the security forces in the use of lethal force. These issues, of course, are directly relevant to the Bloody Sunday shootings and will be examined in detail at the inquiry.
On the frontline of the Troubles, justice and public confidence have been jointly ravaged, and this forthright work of research suggests that truth must be the medicine of first choice.
Dick Grogan is an Irish Times journalist and former Northern Editor