Ex-IRA men get legal representation

Inquiry is aimed at establishing facts about shootings

Six former Official IRA men have been granted permission to have a legal team present when they give their evidence to the Bloody Sunday inquiry.

But they will not have legal representation at any other time during the hearings which are sitting in the Guildhall in Londonderry.

The inquiry is examining the events of 30 January 1972 when 13 civilians were shot dead by British Army soldiers during a civil rights march in Derry's Bogside. A 14th person died later.

On Wednesday, the former IRA men's barrister argued that his clients needed legal representation so they could deal with allegations which will be made against them.

Lord Saville is inquiry chairman

However, the inquiry chairman, Lord Saville, said he did not think this was currently necessary.

It is understood the former Official IRA men are disappointed with the ruling.

It is also thought two of the men are prepared to say that they fired shots on Bloody Sunday.

The soldiers have always said they were fired on by IRA gunmen before they opened fire.

But Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness - a Provisional IRA divisional commander in Derry at the time of Bloody Sunday - has been among those who have denied the IRA fired at the soldiers before the killing began.

The organisation was then split into the Official IRA and the more hardline Provisional IRA.

The Bloody Sunday inquiry was established in 1998 by Prime Minister Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and injured.

Witnesses

They felt that the Widgery Inquiry, held shortly after the shootings, did not find out the truth about what happened on Bloody Sunday.

Witnesses to the inquiry are immune from prosecution on issues arising from their evidence.

It is aimed solely at establishing the facts about what happened.

Lord Saville of Newdigate and the two commonwealth judges heading the inquiry are not expected to report back until 2004.