Northern Ireland Office: Government is getting rid of rejected legacy plan - new safeguards are being put in place to protect province's veterans and ex-security personnel

There never has been and never will be any moral equivalence between our armed forces – who laid down their lives for this nation – and terrorist organisations.

The government is putting in place new safeguards designed specifically to protect our Northern Ireland veterans and former security personnel, to whom we have a duty of care. These ensure that if asked to share information any veteran must be treated with dignity and respect, and that we will not see endless repeat investigations.

The secretary of state, the defence secretary and armed forces minister are continuing to meet with veterans' organisations and, as the prime minister said earlier this month, the results of those considerations will be set out when the bill reaches its Committee Stage.

The government is repealing the Legacy Act's immunity provisions, which were almost universally rejected across Northern Ireland.

It is wrong to say that the new Independent Commission on Information Retrieval would be able to offer immunity to any individual. And the Troubles Bill ensures that criminal investigations by the Legacy Commission will always take priority over the work of the ICIR.

Finally, as the prime minister said last week a new legacy unit has now been established within An Garda Síochána, and we are confident the Irish government’s other commitments will be delivered as set out in the Joint Framework.

Spokesperson, Northern Ireland Office