Legacy academics ‘out of touch’: IVU

A new academic report dealing with Troubles legacy issues further reveals how “out of touch” its authors are with many thousands of victims, Kenny Donaldson has said.

Mr Donaldson, of umbrella group Innocent Victims United, said the Committee for the Administration of Justice (CAJ) and the academics involved have failed to engage with “the largest constituency of victims/survivors”.

The new report – ‘Prosecutions, Imprisonment and the Stormont House Agreement’ – is said to benchmark UK government plans “against binding human rights obligations, the Good Friday Agreement, and the Stormont House Agreement (SHA)”.

Mr Donaldson said: “Yet again we are treated to a report written by the self-appointed experts of legacy. Within their latest contribution they include an ‘analysis’ of IVU’s alternative proposal to the HIU [Historical Investigations Unit] as laid out within the Stormont House ‘Dis’Agreement proposals.

“They claim to have consulted widely; yet no calls or other forms of engagement were made to IVU member groups and that has been the case for the last 12 years I’ve been involved with SEFF, a core grouping within IVU.

“Everyone needs to be clear on the following; speaking to the members of the Victims Forum does not constitute sectoral engagement, there are fine and well meaning people on the Forum from across the community who strive to do their best but it would be disingenuous to say that they are representative of the victim/survivor constituency, they are not, they are individuals.”

Mr Donaldson said the CAJ should understand that they “won’t railroad the largest constituency of victims/survivors” into endorsing a particular agenda.

“We will continue to engage with the UK Government, NIO and others of standing around these matters. It is inconceivable that the UK Government would push ahead without the consent of the largest constituency of victims and survivors.”

Earlier this week, Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie said that legacy proposals contained in the new CAJ report would “distort the narrative of the Troubles”.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP said: “The SHA legacy proposals have failed to gain broad support in Northern Ireland and in particular they lack the support of many innocent victims.”