Bloody Sunday inquiry bill costs taxpayer £188m

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

Lord Savile of Newdigate, the judge in charge of the longest-running public inquiry in British history, is expected to hand his findings to the Government at the end of this year or early in 2009.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward said the bill was expected to reach £188million - £14million higher than recent official estimates.

Clash: Londonderry on Bloody Sunday

The reckoning means costs are still rising at the rate of nearly a million pounds a month nearly three and a half years after the inquiry stopped taking evidence.

However, Mr Woodward gave no indication of when Lord Savile's report may finally be made public. Its completion will come more than a decade after Tony Blair's decision to order a fresh judicial investigation into the shooting of demonstrators in Londonderry on January 30 1972.

Paratroopers killed 14 and wounded 12: republicans maintained they shot innocent protesters, while the army said soldiers came under fire from the IRA.

Mr Blair announced the inquiry on January 29 1998, during the negotiations that preceded the Good Friday Agreement.

Critics have always said Lord Savile's tribunal was no more than a negotiating ploy to appease the IRA.

The money spent on the inquiry could otherwise-have provided a new 700-bed NHS hospital-ten new secondary schools, or 15 new Chinook helicopters for the forces in Afghanistan.

The rate of spending on the inquiry will work out at more than £17million a year, close to £2,000 for every hour since Mr Blair's initial announcement.

Around half the bill for the tribunal has gone on lawyers' fees.

Lord Savile has made no public statement about the inquiry since August 2005, when he said his findings were still 'in preparation' and that 'it has been necessary to look at a very large quantity of material so that it is not possible at this stage to give any firm estimate of when the report is likely to be finished'.

This year, however, the inquiry has continued to employ 17 staff at offices in London and Londonderry.