In quotes: Blair's apology

The families had expected an apology in the Commons

Tony Blair has apologised to the Conlon and Maguire families over the wrongful imprisonment of 11 people in relation to IRA bombings in Guildford and Woolwich in 1974.

Here are some of the key quotes from those involved.

PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR

We would like it to be the police apologising Annie Maguire PM apologises to families Analysis: 'Glaring' miscarriage Watch the apology

I'm very sorry that they were subject to such an ordeal and such an injustice.

That's why I'm making this apology today. They deserve to be completely and publicly exonerated.

GERRY CONLON, ONE OF THE 'GUILFORD FOUR'

He [Tony Blair] apologised profusely and he was physically taken aback by the suffering that we have all suffered.

People thought that when we were released it was the end of it, but it was only the start of it.

Gerry Conlon was released from prison in 1989

It has been harder to clear our names than to get out of prison.

If they can damage you that much by convicting you and publicly hang, draw and quarter you, then they have a moral duty to repair that damage.

This apology is so important, not just for me but for my mother, my sisters, my nieces, my nephews, because this has seeped down the generations.

ANNIE MAGUIRE, ONE OF THE 'MAGUIRE SEVEN'

This is very important to my family and their children and our great grandchildren.

We would like it to be the police...apologising. It is lovely for Mr Blair to do it.

PATRICK MAGUIRE, ANNIE'S SON

Going to prison, the fears, the loneliness, the not knowing, having five birthdays and Christmases away from my family. I just became a number, 33892.

Coming out of prison, that's when my other sentence started. I became bitter and angry, a life of crime was to be my only outlet ... having trouble with the police for being one of the 'Maguire Seven' for many years. I was at their mercy.

[In] January of last year, I ended up in the Priory Hospital for nearly six months ... I take up to 20 tablets a day and I have been told I will probably have to take most of them for the rest of my life.

My own three children have also paid the price, because their father is not the man he would like to have been. For them this day is their day, and I would like to say sorry to them.

IRISH PRIME MINISTER BERTIE AHERN

I appreciate that Tony Blair has agreed to my request for this issue to be addressed.

I know that the years of lost time that the Conlon family has suffered cannot be recovered.

My hope for them is that they can move on with their lives and that the cloud that has hung over them for so long can now finally be lifted.

FRA McCANN, SINN FEIN

There was a grave injustice visited upon the Conlon and Maguire families. The smear campaign operated by the British establishment against those freed from prison continued for years.

It would be my sincere hope that the apology issued by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair marks an end to this and indeed goes some way to ending the ordeal of the Conlon and Maguire families.