Remarks by President McAleese at Reception for survivors and family of those killed on Bloody Sunday
Remarks by President McAleese at the Reception for survivors and family members of those killed on Bloody Sunday
Céad míle fáilte. We are delighted to have you here with us today and extend a very warm welcome to all of you.
Thank you for making the long journey from Derry to be with us today. But then you are well used to long journeys for thirty eight years ago you started a journey for justice that only reached its destination on that momentous day of 15 June 2010 when the Saville report finally told the world what you had always known – that those who were killed on Bloody Sunday were utterly innocent people who were not only wrongfully killed but whose reputations were distorted and sullied until Saville’s detailed and forensic enquiry officially set the record straight.
The British Prime Minister has offered a welcome, sincere and contrite apology for what he described as the “unjustified and unjustifiable” events that took the lives and health of those you loved. A dark cloud that had been hanging over Derry lifted that day as the truth shone brilliantly over Ireland and the world. Without your fidelity to the truth and to justice there would have been no Saville report. It took all of your patience, resilience and determination to get truth across the line and, at the same time, to carry as you did unbearable personal heartache and loss. Your resolve and dignified determination have inspired all those who heard your story.
I know that Derry is proud of you and Ireland is proud for your dignity and your unshakeable resolve, for your support for one another through those awful days and years, for your magnanimity when finally vindicated and for your care for all those who suffered during the Troubles no matter what their religion or politics. It was great to see you receiving the “People of the Year” award last weekend.
I hope that each one of you has an easier heart than you had before that day in June this year and I hope too that in the years ahead we will all be reassured by the new culture that is emerging of peaceful good neighbourliness, partnership, mutual respect and tolerance, where the dignity of every individual and their equality of citizenship are recognised. You have led the way. You showed what had to be done and what could be done. You prized truth and honour, justice and integrity enough to sacrifice almost forty years of your lives in their service.
Thank you for your vital and outstanding contribution to that process; thank you for the dignity and generosity with which you sustained your long campaign; and thank you for your unwavering insistence that the truth be upheld and the innocent vindicated.