Editorial: Politicians still seem to be missing the point on the legacy of terrorism in Northern Ireland

The government’s bill to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland will, it seems, become law. ​The House of Lords has tried to amend the legislation, and indeed many of the proposed changes have been sensible.

But it is hard to feel anything other than dismay when it comes to the legacy of the Troubles. The first point to make is that is it not in fact correct to describe it as the legacy of the past. It is the legacy of terrorism. Even the official republican movement realised by 1972 that the most dominant feature of the violence, republican terrorism, was futile.

Yet a gentle United Kingdom allowed Provisional IRA terrorists to come off their terrorism at a time of their choosing, 25 years later. Barely any other nation on earth would have been so soft and let to so many of its citizens die. Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland determinedly refused to extradite IRA terrorists in its jurisdiction face justice in Northern Ireland. As a consequence, hundreds of people, many of them isolate border Protestants, were massacred.

Despite this history, over many years a weak UK and often inept unionists have let this narrative be turned on its head. London has let Dublin scold it for its attempts to wind down legacy via a form of amnesty, despite the fact that Ireland has operated an almost overt policy of amnesty towards the IRA.

This means that only the UK security forces face trial, and a handful of paramilitaries, typically in unusual cases. This is a scandal which continues to play out. High minded mainland politicians and unionists find cause with bitter critics of the UK on legacy such as Baroness O’Loan and point none of this out. There is no attempt at all to put pressure on nationalist Ireland over its role in the past.