Apology from UK Government 'bare minimum' needed, says Michelle O'Neill

Michelle O'Neill has joined calls for the UK government to apologise to the families of 10 innocent people gunned down in Ballymurphy in 1971.

The Deputy First Minister says that is the "bare minimum" necessary, after a Coroner ruled the killings in West Belfast were unjustifiable.

All 10 had their names cleared yesterday (Tuesday) as "entirely innocent" victims, while Mrs Justice Siobhan Keegan said nine of the fatal shootings were carried out by the army.

Michelle O'Neill said it was "a day for truth for the Ballymurphy families ... but not a day of justice, and that's what the families now need to see''.

She added: "That's for everybody - all families are entitled to truth, all families are entitled to justice, all families are entitled to know what happened to their loved ones.

"The British Government had been exposed yesterday for covering up for 50 years the fact that they killed Irish citizens on our streets. The British Government need to now respond.

"There are calls for an apology and I would obviously support that as a bare minimum. But what these families now deserve is access to justice.''

Speaking alongside Ms O'Neill at a joint appearance at Clandeboye Golf Club in Bangor, Co Down, First Minister Arlene Foster recognised the Ballymurphy families' fight for 50 years to clear their names, adding there are many others who are continuing to fight for justice.

"There are a lot of empty chairs around Northern Ireland and the brutality in the reality of our past is still very much with us,'' she said.

"Therefore, I think whatever the Secretary of State announces in relation to legacy must not take away that hope of justice, because the Ballymurphy families had a hope of justice for 50 years, and there are many others across Northern Ireland who will want to have that hope of justice as well, so I think the Secretary of State should listen very carefully to what is being said around all that right across Northern Ireland, because I think that that is really important.''

Mrs Foster emphasised that in terms of legacy in Northern Ireland, there should be a "process where everybody can feel included''.

"The worst thing we could do is that some people are able to get truth around what happened to their loved ones and others are denied that truth and justice so I think we have to be very careful around that. I want to see a process that includes everybody,'' she said.

"There are many empty chairs right across Northern Ireland as a result of terrorism and I think those people deserve justice and truth just as the Ballymurphy families did.''