Bloody Sunday: Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein and celebration

Martin McGuinness has snapped out a “no” when questioned after the Saville report publication about whether he was carrying a gun on the day of Bloody Sunday. I was at his evidence sessions in Derry in 2003 and he was repeatedly asked about that. At the time, from memory, I think he replied “rubbish.”

He said he’d personally made sure that all the Provisional IRA guns were locked up that day and it wasn’t hard to be sure as there really weren’t that many. I think he was asked for addresses of the safe houses the PIRA used but he said he’d have to think about whether he wanted to provide that information. It had taken him more than a year to agree to turn up.

He was pretty snappish with Lord Saville back in 2003 for raising allegations about him firing shots on the day.

I bet he’d be pretty snappish with him if he came across him now. One former Northern Ireland Secretary told me he thought David Cameron had been a bit crass singling out the Martin McGuinness mention in the report for repetition in his Commons statement. He said he thought it showed poor judgement.

It’s probably worth mentioning as well in this context that the Republican leadership’s line for a very long time had been that Bloody Sunday was a British establishment conspiracy, something Lord Saville today rubbished (David Cameron, not surprisingly, drew attention to this in his Commons statement). Sinn Fein aren’t labouring that point today but instead joining in the mood of celebration that was on show in front of Derry Guildhall this afternoon.