‘400 people from Derry were interned, it’s a matter of tracking them down’

Hundreds from the city were interned without trial in the mid 1970s and there may have been procedural issue around their detention, he said.

“The figures for Derry would have been 400. We only have a list of 50 but I know people who were interned and are not on our lists so it’s a matter of tracking people down.”

The ruling could have major implications for those interned in camps around the north during that period.

“We are taking the entire period from August 1971 to December 1975 and referring them to Pádraig Ó Muirigh and he and his staff will go through the cases with a fine tooth comb to see if anybody else was held under an interim custody order, that was rubberstamped but not properly reviewed, deeming it, in British terms, unlawful. We are asking anyone who was interned to contact me on [email protected].”