Several British soldiers are being offered extra security because their names were "inadvertently" released during the Bloody Sunday Tribunal, the minister with responsibility for the armed forces, Mr Adam Ingram, said yesterday.
In a Commons written answer to Shadow Northern Ireland spokesman, Mr Quentin Davies, who had requested information on the identities of serving and former soldiers falling into "unauthorised" hands, Mr Ingram revealed that the majority of names of 76 soldiers were disclosed in "historical documents" associated with Bloody Sunday.
However, two names were released by lawyers representing most of the soldiers while another soldier's name was "compromised" as a result of a security breach at the Treasury Solicitor's Department in London, Mr Ingram said.
Mr Davies condemned the release of the names as "a piece of the greatest incompetence by the Government and their lawyers" which would have potentially serious implications to the men and their families. "If lawyers are to blame for this then some at least of the costs of additional protection for these men must be relevant from the lawyers themselves. The Bloody Sunday inquiry is turning from farce to tragedy," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Attorney General's office told The Irish Times that the security breach at the Treasury Solicitor's Department took place last summer and no charges resulted from the police investigation into the incident. A civil service investigation at the department is ongoing. The Ministry of Defence said the release of soldiers' names granted anonymity by the courts was "regrettable" but additional security arrangements were available.
Some of the soldiers who have been identified during the inquiry are now dead but Mr Ingram said others would be offered extra security. "Many soldiers' names have become publicly associated with Bloody Sunday. Senior officers were not granted anonymity in 1972, whilst other soldiers have made statements or given interviews in which they name themselves or colleagues," Mr Ingram said in reply to Mr Davies. "The soldiers whose names have been compromised have been, or will be, provided with security advice and additional protective measures where appropriate."
A spokesman for the Bloody Sunday Inquiry said it had "strived at all times" to avoid the disclosure of the identities of soldiers who had been granted anonymity.