Letter: Unionist community deserves answers over what deals were made before the Good Friday Agreement
A letter from George Millar:
Does it surprise the people of Northern Ireland that no independent public inquiry has been carried out into terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Irish republican terrorists in England between 1969 and 1996?
Even the loss of 21 lives in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings has not merited such an inquiry. Repeated demands for inquiries into numerous atrocities carried out by Irish republicans in Northern Ireland have been denied by successive British governments.
The desire for truth and justice only involves pursuing the British security forces who suffered 1,100 fatalities in preventing civil war in Northern Ireland.
The question we ask is, what arrangements were reached between the British and Irish governments along with unionist and nationalist politicians to deny victims of Irish republican violence truth and justice?
It is 28 years since the Good Friday agreement was signed. Do the people of the United Kingdom not deserve to know the details of the secret deals agreed between politicians and paramilitaries?
Is it not time both the UUP and DUP told their communities what role they played in these arrangements? The same arguments apply to the SDLP and Sinn Fein.
The lack of transparency has only promoted further division in Northern Ireland.
However unpalatable the truth may be it is time both the British and Irish governments told the communities in Northern Ireland the details involved in the Good Friday Agreement along with the other deals made to end paramilitary violence.
Just as nationalist and Irish republican politicians have benefitted from post-Good Friday arrangements, does the unionist community not deserve answers on the past?
George Millar, Newtownards