The Impact of Bloody Sunday on Northern Ireland

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The Impact of Bloody Sunday on Northern Ireland

Bloody Sunday has made a very big impact on Irelandand events

occurring there since 1972.

According to Lord Widgery, the soldiers acted in self-defence,

therefore it was not their fault and could not be blamed.

Republicans were very annoyed by this verdict, so in 1998 a new

inquiry was started called "The Saville Inquiry". The inquiry has so

far cost £130m. The final cost will be in the region of £150m. An

estimated £15 million of net additional costs arose from the transfer

of the hearings to London from Londonderry. The point of this inquiry

was to re-examine the evidence of what happened on Bloody Sunday.

There is an ongoing debate about how useful people think this inquiry

will be.

The background to Bloody Sunday:

I think The Saville Inquiry will not be able to solve the problems

Bloody Sunday caused because of many different reasons:

The Nationalist grievances after partition; Catholics wanted to be

joined with southern Ireland and not have to be part of Northern

Ireland. Catholics also claimed that they were discriminated against.

Catholics also hated "internment" - this was the practise of

imprisoning anyone suspected of causing trouble without charge!

The Protestants in the North were very suspicious of the Catholics.

They refused to even consider the idea of a United Ireland, they were

afraid of losing control and their freedom.

There was also Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's; Northern Ireland

hoped to put pressure on the British Government. Their aim was to hold

peaceful demonstrations and ask the government to give them:

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questioned some witnesses.

In some instances witnesses were 'screened' while giving their

evidence. This meant that only the Tribunal, counsel and other legal

representatives could see them. Members of the public and media could

hear the evidence being given but could not see the witness while this

was done.

I hope that the Saville Inquiry will work, because in the past both

sides were arguing, shooting and bombing each other. Now the South and

the North are also beginning to talk, which is a good sign because it

is all one country so they should get along. I think it will take a

long time before the Catholics and Protestants trust each other, but

the situation now is a lot better than it was at the time of Bloody

Sunday, and hopefully the results of the Saville Inquiry will prove to

be a step forward.

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