Ballymurphy Inquest witness will not give answers on Official IRA past

The inquest is examining the deaths of 10 people in Ballymurphy in 1971

A witness at the Ballymurphy Inquest has refused to give details about his previous membership of the Official IRA.

Now a journalist and trade union activist, Pádraig Yeates, gave evidence about being caught up in the trouble during a visit to Belfast in 1971.

He confirmed to a barrister for the Ministry of Defence that he had been a member of the Official IRA.

He added he would not say more because he did not wish to incriminate himself.

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The inquest is examining the deaths of 10 people in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast in August 1971.

Mr Yeates told the court he wrote a pamphlet entitled "The Battle of Belfast" in the days after his experiences in the city, a work he described in court as a "propaganda document".

He was an organiser for the republican group Clann na hÉireann at the time and stayed at the home of a senior Official IRA member in the Whiterock area of west Belfast.

What was the Official IRA?

Fifty years ago, the IRA split into two factions - the Provisional IRA (colloquially known as the Provos) and the Official IRA (known as the Stickies).

Both paramilitary groups used violence during the Troubles and it is thought the Official IRA was responsible more than 50 murders.

The group was eclipsed by the more militant Provisional IRA and it declared a ceasefire in 1972.

In 2010, the Official IRA said it had disposed of its weapons.

The announcement was made almost five years after the Provisional IRA decommissioned its weapons.

He said he worked on a pirate radio service in the area providing messages and information for local people, before ultimately being forced to move.

At one point during his evidence Mr Yeates declined to write down for the court the name and details of a man who had worked with him and who had spoken to him recently, providing new information about 1971.

He said he could not do so "as a journalist and as a republican" and that he "meant no disrespect to the court".

He added that he would urge the man instead to assist the inquest himself.

Mr Yeates did describe seeing men with guns in the Ballymurphy and Whiterock areas after the shooting had broken out.

He recalled a night when local members of the Provisional IRA came to the senior Official IRA member's house to ask for weapons, but were given none.

He also recalled waiting for weapons to be delivered to a house for use in the defence of the area, but that none had arrived.

However, even though his Official IRA credentials had been established by the court, Mr Yeates also admitted that whilst in Belfast he had not actually witnessed any gunmen firing or seen any of the 10 Ballymurphy victims being shot.

Mr Yeates later assured the court that in giving evidence he was "not trying to rewrite history" and was "not pursuing any agenda".