Sinn Fein figure admits IRA past

McGuinness leaves a press conference after admitting his IRA role

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- The deputy leader of the republican political party Sinn Fein has confirmed his role in the Irish Republican Army at the time of "Bloody Sunday" in 1972.

Martin McGuinness told a news conference he was second-in-command of the IRA's Londonderry branch at the time.

The education minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly said he had sent a draft statement about his role to a British commission's investigation into the army's actions in 1972, Reuters said.

When asked at a press conference on Wednesday whether his role had been second-in-command of the Derry IRA, McGuinness said: "Yes."

He added that no IRA units or weapons had been present at the march, one of the most disputed events in Northern Ireland's violent history.

Thirteen Roman Catholics were killed during the January 30, 1972, human rights march.

"I have given a draft statement to the tribunal lawyers," Reuters quoted him as saying.

"In the draft statement I have given a very full, a very frank and a very honest account of what I was doing on 'Bloody Sunday.'

"I will definitively tell the Bloody Sunday tribunal that the IRA did not engage in any way with the British Army on Bloody Sunday.

"In fact, I also tell them that there were no IRA units on the march...that there were no IRA weapons in that area and no IRA shots were fired at the British Army."

McGuinness to be called by inquiry

The statement will lead to him being called to give evidence to the inquiry. His statement is expected to reject outright as "rubbish and a lie" allegations made during the Bloody Sunday inquiry that he fired the first shot on the fateful day, the British news agency Press Association said.

McGuinness will also testify he was aware of approaches made to the IRA by British officials to ensure the march was peaceful, the source said.

He will testify that the IRA had taken precautions to achieve that, including a decision by the IRA to stay away from the march.

As adjutant, it was his responsibility to pass that information on to IRA members.

The decision was also made to put IRA weapons into a secure closed dump for the duration of the march, and IRA volunteers were given the day off to spend with their families or attend the march as independents.

McGuinness is expected to say he was present at the march for its entirety.

He has come under pressure from the inquiry team to make a statement, intensified by a security services agent claim that McGuinness had fired the first shot before troops opened fire.

Once he has made the statement he will, like the hundreds of others who have made one, be liable to be called to give evidence in person and face cross-examination by lawyers representing both the families of those who died and the security forces.

Northern Ireland Assembly member Ian Paisley, justice spokesman in the Democratic Unionist Party, said the government should monitor what McGuinness says and charge him with IRA membership following any confession.

'Bloody Sunday' inquiry begins at last in N. Ireland
March 27, 2000
Blair orders probe of 1972 N. Ireland massacre
Jan. 29, 1998

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