Don Mullan - Primary Source

So last week I finally found a thesis that was working for me, but unfortunately, I couldn't find any sources to back it up. This weekend I did a lot of digging and I uncovered quite a few testimonies that supported what I wanted to argue. One such testimony that I would like to share with you is Don Mullan's, which he gave in the updated and recent investigation done over Bloody Sunday, The Saville Bloody Sunday Inquiry.

Like with all the testimonies given in the "Saville Inquiry," Mullan's testimony largely consisted of him repeating his recollection of events he witnessed on Bloody Sunday. To sum that up, he basically stated that no civilians carried any weapons with them that day and that the British paratroops started firing on the marchers without warning. This confirms what the majority of witnesses experienced that day, and it also what Lord Saville was trying to prove in his inquiry.

While this is all important, it didn't tie in with my thesis: The IRA used Bloody Sunday to gather support from the community and enact retribution on the unionists and the British government. However, there WERE some comments he made later in the inquiry that did match up with my argument. There were two quotes that I found particularly useful. Firstly, Mullan stated "I can recall conversations with my peers and we felt that the only way we could resist what had happened was by force. I have no doubt that many were fueled to join the IRA by the sight of the coffins alone" (7). This quote is great because it is the first time I have actually seen someone say that revenge is what they desired. He also reiterates the statistic that IRA recruitment increased in this time period, stressing that Bloody Sunday was the reason for this. His next quote I found beneficial declared "there was increasing IRA activity. Several 17 to 18 year old boys who I knew joined up. If I had been old enough I would have been tempted myself" (Mullan 2). Again, Mullan reinforces the idea that joining the IRA was on the forefront of people's minds after Bloody Sunday. And from that, statements from actual IRA members show that the IRA used this to their full advantage.