Denis Bradley, the former Policing Board vice-chairman who jointly heads the consultative group on the legacy of the Troubles, said an amnesty had not been ruled in or ruled out.

But even the suggestion of such a move has infuriated those who lost loved ones during the 30 year period.

Billy Eakin whose eight year-old daughter Catherine was killed when three car bombs exploded in the centre of Claudy on July 31,1972, said jail was “the only place” for the IRA members responsible.

“They knew exactly what they were doing. Catherine was cleaning our shop window at the time the boy parked the car outside - he saw her and walked callously away.

“These people knew what they were about - there was no warning. They should rot in jail, they took the lives of innocents - people going about their daily business, women and children. Their crimes should not be forgotten.”

Mr Eakin added that the British Government should never concede that it fought a war in the North. “The IRA were nothing but terrorists and criminals so you couldn’t call that a war. A war is fought with one group against another. We were going about our daily business when they devastated the town.”

Shot on Bloody Sunday

John Kelly, whose teenage brother Michael was shot in Derry on Bloody Sunday said he could never support any move to let the British paratroopers involved get off the hook for the killings.

“We’ve always had three demands at the Bloody Sunday Justice Committee - the full declaration of the innocence of the victims, the repudiation of the Widgery Tribunal and the prosecution of all those who participated in and planned Bloody Sunday.

“Our stance has not changed. My brother Michael was just a 17 year-old boy when he was shot dead and the fact is that if you commit murder you should be prosecuted for that crime.”

The Consultative Group on the Past will be hosting a meeting in Derry next Tuesday, January 15th in St. Columb’s Park, House, Limavady Road, beginning at 7pm.