Mr Johnson bowed to pressure from victims’ families and politicians by expressing his regret for the “tragic” events of August 1971. It came more than 24 hours after an inquest found the 10 people shot dead in the wake of a British Army operation were “entirely innocent”. Taoiseach Micheál Martin called on Mr Johnson to respond to the inquest into the Ballymurphy tragedy in a “comprehensive and fulsome way”. “I would encourage the British government to respond in a comprehensive and fulsome way to the finding that 10 completely innocent people were shot and killed,” Mr Martin said. Last night John Teggart, whose father Daniel was shot dead at Ballymurphy, said: “The apology was to third ­parties, it wasn’t to the Ballymurphy families.”It comes as the next of kin of those shot dead almost 50 years ago confirmed they will be taking civil action against the UK government.

Source: Irish Independent May 13, 2021 01:35 UTC