Letter: Dropping the word ‘innocent’ from Troubles legislation is an insult to all victims

I am writing to express my profound disgust and sense of betrayal regarding your comments on the Nolan Show on Wednesday morning.

I was horrified to hear you attempt to equate the actions of terrorists with the experience of innocent victims of circumstances.

You explicitly said: “When you talk about people who have done really bad things, often really bad things have also been done to those people and that’s part of the point where they were willing to do those things.”

This view is not only factually wrong, but deeply insulting to my family and to countless others who have suffered at the hands of those who chose to inflict pain and misery.

My family and I never had a choice in what happened to us. We never took up a gun or planted a bomb in revenge for the murder of my father, Ivan Toombs.

He was a man who served his community and sacrificed his life to keep the peace.

How dare you equate his life with those who actively chose to commit violence and terror.

The decision by the Alliance Party to vote to drop the word ‘innocent’ from the Victims and Survivors Bill is a permanent stain on your legacy and an insult to all innocent victims.

It sends the message that the lives of those murdered by terrorists are of no greater worth than the lives of those who committed those heinous acts. This is a cruel and indefensible position. True reconciliation can only ever be built on a foundation of truth and justice. Your recent statements and actions, however, have only served to deepen mistrust and disrespect.

I urge you to reconsider your position and to stand unambiguously with the innocent victims, not with the perpetrators of violence.

Paul Toombs, innocent victim, whose father was murdered by the IRA