Government says ex-paramilitaries will not sit as advisors on its new Legacy Commission after MoD minister dodged question in interview
The government has said that no-one who has been involved in paramilitarism will be chosen to sit on its new Troubles body.
The Northern Ireland Office moved to clarify the situation after an MoD minister was pressed over the issue in an interview with The Times, and failed to give a definitive answer.
The body in question is the Victims and Survivors Advisory Group, which will be attached to the Legacy Commission – Labour’s revamped version of the Tories’ Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
There will be at least one guaranteed representative of former military personnel on the panel.
Asked whether former paramilitaries will be able to become members, the Northern Ireland Office said in a statement attributable to the government: “The Victims and Survivors Advisory Group is designed to ensure that the voices of victims and survivors are heard.
“It is absolutely vital that this group can command confidence.
“This government will therefore not appoint anyone who has previously been involved in paramilitary activity to this group.”
The statement came following an interview with Louise Sandher-Jones, the UK’s veterans minister, on Times Radio’s breakfast show with Kate McCann.
Ms Sandher-Jones was asked “should former members of the IRA be allowed to sit on a group that forms part of that commission?”
She replied: “So the commission that you're referring to, the panel, is going to be made up of victims and survivors and veterans are going to be included on there.”
Then she went on to talk about veterans.
Ms McCann said: “You've mentioned veterans a number of times, but that's not the question I'm asking you. The question I'm asking is, should former members of the IRA be allowed to sit on that group?”
The minister replied: “I absolutely think it should be for victims and for survivors. And if you are a member of a group,which means that you are not a victim, you're not a survivor, of course, I wouldn't want that.
"But for me, what's super important is that veterans are on that. There is no equivalent between veterans and people who served in the IRA."
She was asked the same question again, to which she replied: “We have to, in Northern Ireland, recognise that we have to be moving forward and we have to make progress.
"And what this is about is bringing communities together and going forward together is about recognising those who have suffered during the Troubles, which, as you know, has had a hugely lasting impact and was hugely painful for many people who went through it.
"What this is about is making sure that the range of victims, range of survivors, including veterans, have the opportunity to make their voices heard, to reflect on the impact that it had on them.”
Interviewer Ms McCann concluded: “I've asked a number of times. We don't have an answer.”
Reacting on Twitter, Tory shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Alex Burghart said this “should have been a fairly straightforward question to answer”.
In September, the UK government announced – jointly with the Dublin government – that it would “replace the failed Legacy Act and replace the ICRIR with a reformed Legacy Commission to find answers for families – the unfinished business of the Good Friday Agreement”.
It would “legislate to end the former government’s immunity plan for terrorists”, whilst restarting inquests into Troubles deaths.
Meanwhile the Irish authorities agreed to “provide the fullest possible co-operation with UK investigations, and investigate all unresolved Troubles-related incidents in Ireland”.