Bloody Sunday 50: ‘The days of second class citizenship and discrimination must be consigned to history’ - Mary Lou McDonald

Fifty years on from the travesty and heartbreak of Bloody Sunday, we stand with the families and the community that bore the unspeakable loss of fourteen innocent people.

Innocent fathers, husbands, sons, uncles, brothers, friends gunned down by the British Army on the streets of their hometown -the irrepressible town of Derry.

We are inspired by the determination and resilience of all those who have campaigned tirelessly for the truth and for justice.

Their dignity stands in stark contrast to the shameful behaviour of the British system that has for decades resisted, covered-up and sought to thwart the families at every turn.

Their courage outshines the shame of the current Tory government in London that today seeks to provide amnesty to the British soldiers that carried-out the atrocities of Bloody Sunday and all those who perpetrated British State murder in Ireland.

There is no support for this shameful amnesty on this island or internationally.

It flies in the face of truth and justice.

It flies in the face of reconciliation and the new future that so many of our people, from all communities, identities and backgrounds, are working to build together and for each other.

In the same spirit of the people who marched for Civil Rights, those who are living every day for our new future of respect and progress will overcome.

We refuse to be dragged back to the dark days of the past by those who offer only conflict and disharmony.

This generation is moving on, we reach for tomorrow and look to better days. The days of second class citizenship and discrimination must be consigned to history.

In our new Ireland, there can be no barriers to what you can achieve, no limits to how high you can climb and no boundaries to how far you can travel in life.

Our new Ireland will be a home for everyone, a home where we celebrate each other when we are at our strongest and raise each other when we fall behind.

Today, we transcend old divisions and a new dawn is breaking. Despite the challenges we now face together, this is a decade of real opportunity, of hope and excitement.

A decade in which we can finally realise the full potential of our island.

In so many ways the enduring spirit of Derry’s people epitomises the vision of a brighter future for all of Ireland.

Derry is a city that will no longer be left behind, a city rising in unison with Ireland’s new generation stepping forward to claim its destiny, to demand better, to achieve everything previously denied.

The expansion at Magee University and the delivery of the city’s biggest ever investment of £250 million is a powerful symbol of all the possibilities that lie ahead.

Out of a traumatic and harrowing past, Derry emerges to a future filled with energy, positivity and opportunity.

As we live through the dying days of partition, the winds of change blow all around us.

We continue the journey to a new and united Ireland. An Ireland where workers, families and communities come first.

These are the moments when history is made and the future is shaped. It is time for each and every one of us to seize the opportunity.

This is our moment. This is our time. Let’s grasp it together.

Fifty years ago on the streets Derry, fourteen innocent people were murdered by the British Army.

Today, we cast off the shackles of oppression, and with hope and confidence, we remember them.

We will never forget them, we won’t rest until they have truth and justice, and we will work night and day for an Ireland of equals. That is the very best way to honour their memories.