At last. Fair play to the families for sticking with it for so long.

About time if they admitted this all those years ago we wouldn’t have had the carnage that we did over the years

The real shame here is that many of the parents of those who were killed have since passed on. They never got to hear David Cameron say those words “What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong.”

For 40 years the British state told these parents that their children were at fault, and were responsible for their own deaths. For 40 years they were told that the actions of the paratroop regiment on the day were appropriate. No compensation will ever correct that.

The huge problem that I have with this is that Britain will now see it as some form of closure on all of the murders of Irish civilians by British soldiers. Everyone has heard about Bloody Sunday, but how many on hear have heard about the Ballymurphy Massacre and the Springhill Massacre? The families of these events have never received an apology. I implore everyone to at least read up about them as, unlike Bloody Sunday – the media wasn’t there to document the events and give them worldwide publicity.

Springhill saw Margaret Gargan murdered by British soldiers. She was only 13 years old. David McCafferty was only 15, and like Margaret – his only crime was that he was Irish. He was shot in the chest and killed. John Dougal was also shot in the chest, he was only 16.

One of the most harrowing of all the murders however was the murders of Noel Phillips and Joan Connolly during the Ballymurphy Massacre. It’s unfortunate that most people in Ireland do not know about these events, so I hope people opt to become more informed, so they don’t turn out like ‘Colin’ above, and become intolerantly ignorant beyond repair.

Without any warning, Noel Phillips (20) was shot. As he laying on the ground crying, Joan Connolly – a mother of 8 children went to help him. As she tried to assist him – she was shot in the face. At this point – Connolly and Phillips both lay on the ground in severe agony. Daniel Teggart a father of 14 lay dead on the ground. The rest of the wounded were taken to the local army base, where they were severely beaten. Joseph Murphy was beaten so badly, he died of his wounds 3 weeks later.

During all this – Joan Connolly lay on the ground, with part of her face missing. She was crying out for help – but nobody could come to assist her, as anyone who tried to help anyone in the area was fired upon by soldiers. She eventually died, and left 8 children without a mother. Noel Phillips lay injured on the ground, also crying out for help. Without any justification, a soldier exited the base and approached Noel Phillips. He pulled out a handgun and shot Noel once behind each ear in a public execution.

11 civilians were killed during the Ballymurphy Massacre, 5 more were killed during Springhill. Not one soldier has ever served a day in prison for these actions. No apology has been issued. Britain was quick to lock up hundreds of innocent Irish people during internment, but never once held their soldiers accountable for their actions.

Why the Irish Government has never pressed for an apology for Ballymurphy and Springhill is beyond me.

A nice little payday built up for them to retire on. The march was illegal on the day, they broke the law and the legal authorities in that area reacted in accordance with the law after extreme provocation.

This will encourage more protests-it pays.