'Outrageous' that Irish government using threat of legal action to leverage influence over ICRIR, says Jeffrey Dudgeon
It is "outrageous" that Dublin is using the threat of its legal action against the UK to "leverage its influence" over Northern Ireland's Troubles investigations body, a campaigner has said.
The comments were made by Jeffrey Dudgeon, convenor of the Malone House Group, which campaigns against what it says is imbalance in legacy investigations against UK security forces.
He was speaking after MPs at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in Westminster heard that the Irish government was refusing all requests for information from the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) in NI.
ICRIR Commissioner Peter Sheridan told MPs on Wednesday that Irish authorities had failed to respond to requests for information on 10 murders.
And Chief Commissioner Sir Declan Morgan said Dublin has been clear it will not cooperate until the UK's legacy bill – containing major reforms for the ICRIR – is passed.
DUP MP Gavin Robinson also complained that the NIO was “never open” about how it was handling the lack of cooperation from Dublin, citing Irish minister Helen McEntee's statement that there would be “no information sharing until a conclusion to the interstate case”.
The Irish government has taken an interstate case against the UK at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over its Troubles legacy Act. Critics argued that it offers an amnesty and removes access to justice for victims.
Reacting to the hearing, Mr Dudgeon said information disclosed at it “alerts us to the fact that the Irish government is using the inter-state case to leverage its influence over the ICRIR” which he described as “outrageous”.
He added: “We haven't even seen the text of the Irish case nor do we know if the NIO is even resisting it.”
Mr Dudgeon said the ECHR has paused the case while legislation reforming the ICRIR is debated at Westminster, meaning the Republic "retains the power to influence NIO policy in relation to ICRIR.”
He believes that history is repeating itself, because three years after the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Dublin demonstrated “a clear lack of willingness” to tackle cross-border terrorism.
“We have surely reached the same point of disillusionment with Dublin now,” he said, adding that the UK “should not be desperate to seek a reset” with the EU by “allowing Ireland to torture us at Strasbourg”.
He said this was “especially so” because the Irish interstate case is challenging British amnesties when “Dublin has been running a terrorist amnesty for decades”.
The Irish government and Garda were invited to comment.
A NIO spokesman responded that sharing of information by the Irish authorites is "vital" for legacy investigations, and the previous UK government's approach "failed to achieve this".
He said the current UK government secured unprecedented "information sharing commitments" from the Irish Government, and both governments are taking forward legislation to facilitate this.
He noted that the recent Supreme Court's ‘Dillon judgement’, found the ICRIR investigations “human rights compliant” and said the Secretary of State is therefore "clear that there is no basis for the interstate case".
"We have raised with the Irish Government the need for interim arrangements to enable the Gardai share information with the ICRIR, so that those cases can progress on behalf of victims and survivors ahead of the legislation taking effect."
ICRIR ‘TOXIC’ CULTURE FINDING
Meanwhile, a review into ICRIR commissioned by the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and led by former permanent secretary Peter May concluded in May that the body was "toxic", "divided" and "disrespectful".
Labour is now working in partnership with the Irish government to implement major reforms to ICRIR - which was formed by the last Tory government.
However on Wednesday, Mr Sheridan strongly challenged the report, saying that "only one or two" people had complained of a "toxic" culture.
Kenny Donaldson, Director of victims' group SEFF, said ICRIR is "not perfect" but that its members have had so little access to justice that they have turned to it "out of desperation".
He had been sceptical about claims that ICRIR had a toxic culture, he said, but now sees the ICRIR leadership are “clear” that the complaint relates to “isolated incidents”. He added: "The Irish State is effectively 'quality proofing' what the UK State is going on legacy yet operates largely in the shadows concerning its own past," he added. He said it was critical that the UK government hold it accountable for its role in the Troubles.