Ben Lowry: UK and unionist weakness and apathy on legacy has emboldened Ireland

It reflects a saga in which Dublin has tried to pressure (I say tried to humiliate) London in Europe on its handling of Troubles killings, such as that of Pat Finucane.

The Irish statement is telling: “It is also a matter of regret ... [that the UK] appears to cast further doubt on the nature of its commitment – reaffirmed at the time of the New Decade New Approach agreement in January – to bring forward that legislation as a matter of urgency.

“The position of the Irish government is clear. The Stormont House Agreement framework is the way forward on these issues. It was agreed by both governments and the political parties after intensive negotiations, and it must be implemented. Where the UK government are proposing significant changes to that framework, these must be discussed and agreed by both governments and the parties to the Northern Ireland Executive.”

There will be more on this in the coming weeks, but suffice to say now that it is a damning reflection on UK and unionist apathy/weakness on legacy that Irish officials feel emboldened to speak this way.

It is made worse that there has never been a specific process agreed to examine how Ireland was an IRA safe haven or into other horrors, such as bomb massacres and the murder of judges, lawyers and politicians.

A Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) was agreed at Stormont House but it was increasingly clear that this would have investigated security forces as much as terrorists, who carried out 90% of the killings.

The HIU probes into the security forces would have been in addition to the multi million pound investigations of state forces in civil actions, inquiries and legacy inquests.

• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter deputy editor

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