<P> Some like Peter Oborne have 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". </P> <P> 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": </P> <P> In response to questions about the Bloody Sunday inquiry, Government officials were unable to explain why the cost was more than double the estimates given publicly . Miss Jowell's aides confirmed that she had repeated a figure given to her by John Reid, the Home Secretary, who when he was the Northern Ireland secretary had challenged the hefty fees being charged by lawyers at the inquiry . </P> <P> Blair's official spokesman later agreed that costs had run out of control, saying that the inquiry had taken a "long time and cost an awful lot of money". It heard from more than 900 witnesses before it ended last November and Lord Saville retired to write his report . </P>

Who fired the first shot on bloody sunday