The UK government should launch unilateral legacy investigations into terrorism

The Northern Ireland victims’ commissioner has pointed out that planned changes to legacy investigations will potentially close thousands of historic investigations permanently.
News Letter editorialNews Letter editorial
News Letter editorial

Judith Thompson also called for the pension for Troubles victims to be paid now.

Ms Thompson is right both in her assessment of the retreat from the Stormont House legacy plan, and in her demand for the pension to be paid. But the context of both those scandals need to be made clear.

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Ms Thompson is a representative of victims, and while she plainly cannot prioritise any one category of victim over another, it is a fact that the great majority of victims during the Troubles were victims of terrorism (90%).

Two thirds of those were victims of republicans.

London, through political weakness in the face of nationalist Ireland’s demands on legacy, has let the great bulk of legacy investigations turn against the security forces.

When it became apparent that the Stormont House proposal might worsen this, it was essential that the UK retreated. The main problem is that the government still seems to be doing so apologetically, instead of unilaterally announcing investigations into IRA terrorism and funding civil actions against its leadership.

Why did it take Trevor Ringland in this paper to suggest setting up a team of detectives after the Supreme Court ruling on Gerry Adams? Why has London not responded to the judgement? Why has it never criticised Dublin’s attempts to embarrass the UK at the Council of Europe on legacy?

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What is the plan for scrutiny of Ireland being a safe haven for IRA mass murderers in the Troubles?

Why did Brandon Lewis recently explain that paramilitaries can appeal to a panel for a pension, instead of making clear that they will never get one?

It seems like the plan is to give republicans as little as possible of their demands, rather than to turn the spotlight on them.

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Alistair Bushe

Editor