'IRA victims have nobody to sue' says victims campaigner after PSNI and Army payout
The head of a Troubles victims group has lamented that there is no-one that IRA victims can sue for their injuries after a multi-million pound payout to victims alleging state collusion.
Kenny Donaldson of Lisnaskea-based charity SEFF said he does not deny any victims’ right to pursue redress but noted that, unlike those who blame the state for killings, those who suffered at the hands of republican paramilitaries have “few options availble to them”.
He was reacting to a payout from the PSNI and Ministry of Defence in a civil case brought by eight victims of a UVF gun attack in 1992.
While the details of the settlement have not been made public, the Press Association has said “it is understood to involve compensation of several million pounds”.
The Irish News has reported the sum to be £4.6m.
The attack was a shooting at the Thierafurth Inn in Kilcoo, south Co Down, which killed random Catholic customer Peter McCormack, 42, and seriously wounded three others.
Survivors, represented by the firm Phoenix Law, allege state collusion in the shooting.
Mr Donaldson said: "Our position has always been that any innocent victim/survivor of terrorism or the wider ‘Northern Ireland Troubles' has the absolute right to seek justice, truth, accountability (and where appropriate compensation) for the experiences they have endured.
"We have never denied nor dismissed any individual's right to pursue such redress.
"All criminal violence is wrong irrespective of who the perpetrators are and we acknowledge the experiences of those innocents caught up in The Thierafurth Inn, perpetrated attack by UVF terrorists.
"However it does need acknowledged that the victims of Irish Republican terrorism have few options available to them.
"No-one has yet provided a PO Box address for a writ to be served upon the Provisional IRA Army Council in respect of damages for the gross human rights violations perpetrated against 1,800 murdered by the organisation and the thousands upon thousands maimed, physically and/or psychologically.
"Furthermore, the Irish State to date has failed to acknowledge for and take responsibilities for its' acts of commission and omission over the years of 'The Troubles.'
"Once again innocents of Irish Republican terrorism, when turning on the news, are met with the headlines of millions being paid out to a specific group of victims impacted by an atrocity, and they are once again transported back to the circumstances they endured – and have been forced to continue to endure.”
He said that criminal injuries compensation in the 1970s and 80s for those who lost a loved-one in a terror attack typically did not exceed £10,000 and was often much less, with some receiving just a few hundred pounds.
He said that IRA victims will look at the Thierafurth Inn case and ask: “Why are we treated so differently than others? Where is the equity, where is the fairness?”
He concluded: “Those who allege wrongdoing by the UK state have access to a range of forms of redress, but for those impacted by Provisional IRA terrorism, when will their day come?"
SEFF used to stand for South East Fermanagh Foundation but today stands for “Supporting / Empowering / Fair / Focussed”.
According to the book Lost Lives, loyalists killed at least 1,050 people during the Troubles, and republicans 2,139. The security forces killed 367.