the Saville Report would be published on 15 June. Comments in the press emphasised the financial cost of the inquiry, and the ways in which this could overshadow its legal and moral value. Shortly before the publication of the long-awaited Saville Report, it was announced that soldiers from the Parachute Regiment would be returning to Helmand in Afghanistan on operations for the third tour in four years in October and commanders believed that the report could cause a "morale-damaging backlash" against the British Army if the reports were not viewed in the context of the violence and chaos that had engulfed Northern Ireland in 1972 and that while there should be no attempt to justify the killing of civilians by British paratroopers, senior defence officials emphasised that the events of Bloody Sunday were "a tragedy which belonged to another era" and should not reflect badly on present day armed forces. Controversy over cost and duration The Bloody Sunday Inquiry generated controversy due to its prolonged nature, mounting costs and questions regarding its relevance. Some like Peter Oborne labelled the inquiry a "shambles", estimating its final cost at "more than £200 million". He has suggested that while "Most people... accept that in Northern Ireland the only way forward is by casting a veil of obscurity over the past": however the Saville inquiry marks the "one exception to this rule: the British army"; whose "conduct... is being put under a microscope by the Saville public inquiry". The inquiry caused further controversy when on 4 July 2006 the Government revealed its cost to the taxpayer in an attempt "to block an official inquiry into the 7 July London bombings". "Tessa Jowell, let slip on BBC TV's Sunday AM programme that 'the latest estimate... is about £400 million'": an amount labelled by "Downing Street and ministers" as an "'awful' cost": See also Northern Ireland peace process References External links Full report of the Inquiry Bloody Sunday Inquiry website Madden & Finucane Bloody Sunday Archive BBC News Bloody Sunday Inquiry Timeline Robert Fisk: 'We didn't care about the Irish – Catholics or Protestants'. 16 June 2010. Britain Acknowledges "Bloody Sunday" Killings Were Unjustified and Apologizes to Victims’ Families – video report by Democracy Now! Public inquiries in the United Kingdom The Troubles in Derry (city) Government reports 2010 documents