Opposition to Legacy Act continues, but some want a system that benefits one side only: Gavin Robinson

As the majority of campaigners appeared united in their opposition to the new legacy legisation that became law on Wednesday, Gavin Robinson hit out at those seeking to perpetuate a one-sided process for dealing with the past.
By Mark Rainey
Published 1st May 2024, 16:21 BST
Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Photo: Tim Ireland/PA WireHouses of Parliament in Westminster. Photo: Tim Ireland/PA Wire
Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Photo: Tim Ireland/PA Wire

​Describing the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 as “the government’s ill-fated legacy legislation,” the DUP leader said the proposals now enshrined in law – including ending prosecutions, inquests and civil cases related to the Troubles – were a “corruption of justice”.

However he also said that some of the Act’s opponents were guilty of hypocrisy – being content with extraordinary mechanisms that benefit “their people” only.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We stood against the legacy legislation here in Westminster – standing up for innocent victims in Parliament,” he said.

"And just as we accept it is outrageously a corruption of justice, so too was opening the prisons in 1998, so too was offering ‘on the run’ letters to those who perpetrated crimes in Northern Ireland.

"There is no hypocrisy in our position but there is in others, who stand against this legacy legislation, but simply want it to deliver for their people”.

Mr Robinson said his party would “continue to stand up for innocent victims, and stand against this outrageous rewriting of the past”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the campaign against the new legislation is “far from over”.

He said: “This immoral Tory government’s attempt to shut down routes to justice for victims and their families cannot be allowed to succeed”.

The Foyle MP added: “My message to them is clear – this is not over. This legislation is an insult to the memory of those who were murdered during the Troubles. We will never reckon with our past by closing down the path to truth and justice”.

Under the new legislation, the ICRIR is now responsible for carrying out investigations into unresolved Troubles deaths, but the chances of the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery bringing prosecutions is “vanishingly small”, its head of investigations, Peter Sheridan, has said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Although there is almost universal opposition to the legislation in Northern Ireland, Jeffrey Dudgeon of the Malone House Group think tank said its potential should be explored.

"I think we have to give it a fair wind, and have a dispassionate discussion about the possibilities it can bring forward,” he told the BBC’s TalkBack programme.

"I think the most important aspect is to prevent a reoccurrence of violence. If people are at loggerheads then violence will become easier to recommence."

"In 1998 we had the Good Friday Agreement. Prisoners were released, legacy wasn't addressed in the slightest, and we have been left with the next 25 years or more, going through a series of options which have each failed”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In a written submission to the government’s consultation process on legacy, Mr Dudgeon referred to a perception that only state actors feared prosecution over Troubles-era deaths.

“We have had an amnesty, certainly a one-sided amnesty, in all but name,” he said.