'Remembering the past too much' not helpful in Northern Ireland: Chris Patten

Lord Patten of Barnes, whose report in 1999 led to the change of name from the Royal Ulster Constabulary to the PSNI, warned against plans to commission an “official history” of the Troubles.

Speaking during the Legacy Bill debate in the House of Lords on Monday, he said: “I think going through all those horror stories, trying to be objective and balance one bit of horror against another, is a less than useful idea. Northern Ireland remembers the past too much and does not spend enough time building a better present and a better future, even today; even today that is the situation.”

The peer, who served as a Northern Ireland minister in the early 1980s, added: “I have never believed that you actually deal with that problem by going over again and again who was right and who was wrong about that particular barbarity.

“We should try to understand what has happened, of course, but… we should build on the decencies that have ensured that, despite all the trouble and the extremism, Northern Ireland still exists as, in many respects, a thoroughly decent community.

“The people who I remember when I look back are the heroes. Some of the civil servants and public servants that I had… were great human beings who gave their lives to the attempt to produce decency, prosperity and peace in Northern Ireland. But, please – no official history.”