The Saville inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday received a crucial boost last night when the families of those killed and injured said they would co-operate fully with the tribunal and hand over all the documentary evidence in their possession.
This was in direct response to a concession from the inquiry giving the families the level of legal representation they had sought.
Some 40,000 pages of documents gathered over many years by the families and their legal team, as well as the names and addresses of 500 people who made statements in 1972 in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, will be given to the tribunal within days.
The Bloody Sunday inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville, yesterday published its rulings on a number of key issues raised at a preliminary hearing held in Derry on Monday and Tuesday. Full public hearings will begin in February.
Until yesterday, the families said they would not co-operate unless they felt sure there would be "a level playing field". At the preliminary hearing, their lawyers rejected outright a suggestion by Lord Saville that they would be adequately represented at the tribunal by one senior and two junior counsel, and demanded a minimum of 10 barristers.
Madden and Finucane, the firm of solicitors representing the families of 12 of the 13 men killed on Bloody Sunday, and the 13 people who were injured, said the demand for 10 barristers was "modest" and was a compromise be cause each of the families could have sought individual representation.
In its ruling published yesterday, the inquiry said it accepted the request for five senior and five junior counsel "in order that justice should not only be done, but be seen to be done".
A spokesman for the families' legal team, Mr Don Mullan, welcomed the ruling. "The families have always intended to co-operate fully with this inquiry because they have nothing to hide. They were just waiting for the ground rules to be established," he said.
The families said they were pleased the inquiry had "established the fundamental issue of fairness in how it intends to proceed". However, their continued co-operation could not be guaranteed.
In a statement issued last night, the families said: "The most important issues such as immunity and anonymity have yet to be dealt with, but the families are content to be involved with the inquiry at this stage. However, this position will be reviewed at every important juncture in the future."
The families also criticised the British Ministry of Defence for its failure to locate "any of the 1,800 soldiers, including 320 Paras, who were in Derry on that day". So far just 10 soldiers have come forward voluntarily.
Lord Saville, in his ruling, also registered the tribunal's "dissatisfaction" with the MoD, which agreed in April to try to find the soldiers involved. The ruling said valuable time could have been saved if the MoD had informed the tribunal sooner of the problems it was having in locating the soldiers.
The tribunal will now try to find the soldiers. In an attempt to locate those who are receiving army pensions, subpoenas will be issued to government departments to get those soldiers' names and addresses. It is believed that only 20 of the soldiers directly involved could be located in this way.
On the question of anonymity, the tribunal ruled that there were "likely to be circumstances in which granting anonymity will positively help" in the search for the truth. It would be willing to grant "an appropriate degree of anonymity" where necessary. This would extend only to withholding names and addresses, while the use of screens at a hearing would be regarded as "a wholly exceptional measure".
The tribunal also asked to hear the views of interested parties as to whether it should ask the Attorney General to give an assurance that nothing said by a person to the tribunal could be used in subsequent criminal proceedings against that person.
The tribunal said it had not yet received any application for immunity from prosecution or any claim to public interest immunity in relation to documents.