Pádraig Ó Muirigh

The next two weeks of hearings will hear evidence regarding the killing of nine men and one woman over three days in August 1971.

Attorney General John Larkin ordered a fresh inquest into the incident in 2011 after a campaign by the Ballymurphy families.

Solicitor Pádraig Ó Muirigh, who represents some of the families, said: “Today, 47 years after these families lost their loved ones, 46 years after the original inquest, seven years after the direction for a new inquest, we are finally here.

“It’s a tribute to the adversity and resilience of these brave families, so I want to commend them through all the difficult days.

“Hopefully this is a new start of a process to find out what happened to their loved ones.

“Over the next few months the court will examine the evidence and we are very confident that their loved ones’ innocence will be clear and their names will be cleared, finally.”