Donaldson right to highlight hypocrisy of SF on legacy

After meeting Sir Declan Morgan on Monday, the republican party did so again.

It emerged from the meeting to issue scathing commentary on the UK not having funded these inquests.

The party has cited Sir Declan again and again and again.

This is a remarkable, and possibly unprecedented situation: one political party in a deeply divided society is repeatedly citing the Lord Chief Justice to advance its political goals.

This, it is important to state, has not been done at the behest of or in tandem with Sir Declan. Indeed, when his office put out a statement following Monday’s meeting, it reiterated that he had “previously indicated that he is happy to meet any political party seeking to discuss this or any other relevant issue”. He is in charge of inquests and he is trying to fulfil a legal obligation to have an investigation into the deaths compliant with Article Two of the human rights convention.

Sir Declan said after the meeting with Sinn Fein: “I recognise the disappointment felt by the families that since we met in February 2016 we have only been able to make very limited progress in dealing with the outstanding legacy inquests.”

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, opposite, writes about the hypocrisy of Sinn Fein demanding accountability when republicans have so much to divulge. It is worth adding, in the context of them repeatedly citing the lord chief justice, that there is much still to learn about the IRA murder of several judges, as part of their campaign of the worst sort of intimidation and terror.

Any political party that still has concerns about legacy should take up Sir Declan on his offer of a meeting.

This newspaper revealed that around 40 of the more than 90 inquest deaths were terrorists. The murder of their victims must get as much scrutiny. Legacy structures are currently out to consultation. Now is the obvious time for clear figures as to what the overall structures will cost in outline, including clarity on the cost and scope of the inquests.