Letter: Legacy must reflect the way terrorists did 90% of the killing

We are entering new territory with the unilateral appointment by the government of the former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Sir Declan Morgan as Chief Commissioner of the envisaged Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery.

Sir Declan Morgan had himself ruled such a possibility out just a small number of months ago, when giving evidence to the Northern Ireland Affair Select Committee. He spoke of the need for externals from Northern Ireland to be involved in any new structures bringing "independence and transparency".

Our constituency of victims and survivors alike others are looking on with bemusement as yet another building block within the Conservative Party's ideologically motivated legacy policy is laid. We fear that this policy is partly driven by cost, and that is because so much money has been spent on the disproportionate investigations into the UK state and the awarding of damages to those who have brought such actions.

The government’s legacy policy is not democracy, this is not honourable and this does not have the mandate from the very people to whom this policy is most impact.

We have said it repeatedly that we cannot and will not consent to any legacy proposal which fails to bring accountability of the past in a way in which the integrity of realities is reflected, in which 90% of Troubles killings were murders carried out by terrorists, and a small sub-section of the remaining 10% being actual criminal murder, perpetrated by members of the state's security forces.

The UK government are proposing a legacy response which kills justice, which will not deliver accountability and which offers a truth which is not victim led but open to wholesale abuse by perpetrators and their connected parts.

We have also insisted of the need for robust legislation to effectively address the scourge of efforts to mainstream the terrorism narrative and whilst there have been some good contributions within the House of Lords, these words must be reflected in effective and robust law which has the means to fundamentally root out such behaviours within our society.

This also needs accompanied by a societal education programme where schools can no longer opt out of covering the Northern Ireland Troubles and its continued legacy. Nor can they be permitted to teach in a partisan and ideologically slanted way.

If there is a genuine desire to further the cause of reconciliation, then the first building block must be accountability of 'The Past.' This means the good, the bad and the ugly from across the board being transparently dealt with.

It is not a narrative to say that there was ‘no alternative’ to murder and mayhem, that position is in fact promoted by those who are part of the movement to normalise pre-1998 terrorism. If they are allowed to succeed, then the building blocks are there for those engaged in post 1998 terrorism to draw solace and encouragement from.

.

Kenny Donaldson,

Victims’ campaigner, South East Fermanagh Foundation