Lord Robin Eames added that the £12,000 recognition sum was based on an equivalent grant already paid out by the Irish government, but admitted matters could have been handled differently.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward ruled out compensation earlier this year after it prompted a fierce backlash from unionists and some victims groups because it would include republican and loyalist paramilitaries.

Lord Eames said: "We knew that after a very heated period of debate this recommendation might overshadow all the other proposals and be very hurtful within the victim family for those who felt that there was an equivalence being advanced between perpetrator and victim.

"With the benefit of hindsight we might have chosen a different way or different words, we might not even have mentioned a figure."

The report was published in January by the Consultative Group on the Past, an independent group chaired by former Church of Ireland primate Lord Eames and ex-Catholic priest Denis Bradley.

It was established to deal with the legacy of the Troubles, during which more than 3,000 people died.

The proposals included a legacy commission which would be led by an international figure.

Lord Eames was writing in the newsletter of lobby group of Committee on the Administration of Justice.

Speaking about the controversial £12K payout, he said: "With the benefit of hindsight, this probably could have been written a different way or expressed a different way.

"I would go as far as to say we all brought our personal backgrounds and outlooks to the work that we were given to do… but we were tied by what we faced in terms of… the legislation."