Legacy inquest funding: ‘Truth and justice must be delivered for all including victims of terrorism, not just for victims of the state’

Thousands of people across Northern Ireland whose loved ones were murdered by republican and loyalist terrorists must have access to truth and justice via inquests.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Mar 2019, 13:24 BST
Updated 1st Mar 2019, 14:25 BST
The scene outside Loughgall RUC Station in May 1987 after the SAS shot dead eight IRA terrorists who had launched an attack on the base. The men's deaths are expected to be among more than 90 considered during so-called legacy inquests.The scene outside Loughgall RUC Station in May 1987 after the SAS shot dead eight IRA terrorists who had launched an attack on the base. The men's deaths are expected to be among more than 90 considered during so-called legacy inquests.
The scene outside Loughgall RUC Station in May 1987 after the SAS shot dead eight IRA terrorists who had launched an attack on the base. The men's deaths are expected to be among more than 90 considered during so-called legacy inquests.

That was the call from UUP MLA Doug Beattie MC in response to an announcement of millions of pounds of funding for so-called legacy inquests – largely killings in which the security forces are implicated.

The move will allow the Department of Justice to spend an estimated £55m over the next six years to deal with a backlog of outstanding inquests, covering 93 deaths, by setting up a new unit specially-designed to handle them.

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According to a News Letter investigation carried out in 2017, when there were 94 deaths in the inquest queue, 51 of the dead were known or thought to have been killed by security forces, 25 by loyalists, and just 17 by republicans.

Doug Beattie MC MLA. Pic by Colm Lenaghan/PacemakerDoug Beattie MC MLA. Pic by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker
Doug Beattie MC MLA. Pic by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

Paramilitaries made up more than one-third of the dead in the backlog.

Mr Beattie (see link to his full comments below) said the new inquest unit should go beyond its current caseload to “deliver truth and justice via inquests to the hundreds, if not thousands, of family members who saw their loved ones butchered by republican and loyalist terrorists”.

DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson stressed that 90% of Troubles deaths were at the hands of terrorists and insisted that legacy issues must be dealt with in a “balanced and proportionate” way.

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Mr Beattie, the UUP justice spokesperson, continued: “While those families of the 93 will see inquests some time in the next six years many others who will not and this will continue to be a slap in the face for many victims and survivors.

“Therefore I ask the Lord Chief Justice and the DoJ to ensure that this plan for dealing with outstanding legacy inquests does not stop at the 52 cases which are presently opened.”

Stressing that the new unit must not be “blinded by a republican narrative”, Mr Beattie added: “The proposed Legacy Inquest Unit must have a degree of longevity and should not be blinded by a republican narrative or Sinn Fein scavenger policies that will attempt to bog the process down in endless judicial reviews and calls for inquiries while they continue to use victimhood as their own personal political tool.”

According to the Department of Justice (DoJ), a new Legacy Inquest Unit will be set up within the Coroners Service to process legacy inquests, under the remit of the Lord Chief Justice.

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It said the unit will be supported by “increased capacity in PSNI, the PPS and other justice agencies”.

Announcing the DoJ’s plans, permanent secretary Peter May said: “The delays in progressing legacy inquests have been unacceptable.

“This initiative will support a significant expansion of capacity to clear the outstanding legacy inquests over the next six years.”

Stressing that legacy issues must be “dealt with in a way that is balanced and proportionate”, Jeffrey Donaldson said: “We must move forward in Northern Ireland on a basis where everyone is equal under the law and where there is a proportionate focus on all the deaths which occurred during the Troubles.”

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Victims and survivors group the South East Fermanagh Foundation said the DoJ’s announcement “does little to advance the cause of holding terrorism accountable”.

Ken Funston, the organisation’s advocacy services manager, said: “The onus again is on the government to investigate to a higher level cases involving the state or its security forces, or where there has been such an allegation made.

“Does that therefore mean that onus is to the detriment of all others? Terrorists were responsible for murdering over 3,000 people during the Troubles, it’s almost as if most of those people don’t matter, they were collateral during a dirty sectarian period of terrorist strife. When will the government intervene and make a decision that our past must be dealt with fairly?”

While welcoming the funding, the Commissioner for Victims and Survivors, Judith Thompson, said “it is imperative that we also remain focused on the needs of more than eleven hundred families who are still awaiting legacy investigations”.

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Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, who in 2016 put forward the plan for dealing with so-called legacy inquests, said he was “pleased” that funding is to be provided to implement his proposals.

Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle O’Neill and SDLP policing spokesperson Dolores Kelly both said it was “long overdue”. Meanwhile Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson said “the process should have begun several years ago”.

The DoJ said this the 2019-20 budget allocation will allow it to commence its work, with future funding requirements expected to be considered on an annual basis.

Doug Beattie: Hundreds of other victims must also get legacy inquests

Related topics:Sinn FeinJeffrey DonaldsonNorthern Ireland