Stormont House legacy plans are unworkable, say victims of terror

South East Fermanagh Foundation (Seff) was giving evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster, which is examining the government’s retreat from the 2014 deal on legacy.

Seff, which supports a move away from Stormont House, has four outreach bases across Northern Ireland and also operates a service in London for the benefit of victims and survivors in Great Britain.

Its director of services Kenny Donaldson insisted that it should be the PSNI’s role to investigate legacy crimes, rather than creating a new investigative body and bringing in officers from elsewhere in the UK.

Mr Donaldson, who spoke to MPs by remote video link alongside Ken Funston and Iona Gallagher, also told MPs that the definition of a victim was unacceptable, and he reiterated Seff’s call for the UK-wide definition of a victim and survivor of terrorism.

The outworking of the current definition meant that people with serious criminal convictions including the crime of the murder can serve on the Victims’ Forum, he told MPs.

He asked them to imagine victims of domestic violence or a burglary sitting alongside perpetrators of those crimes.

Seff in its evidence also told MPs that there needed to be a spotlight on the role of the Irish state during the Troubles, given that there were around 500 murders along the border which had a cross border connection, mostly by republicans, and, Mr Donaldson said, “88 innocents murdered in their own jurisdiction”.

Mr Donaldson said any new legacy mechanisms should be founded on the principle that there was never any justification for the use of criminal violence for political objectives.

“Over the 1994-1998 period there should have been an acknowledgement that criminal violence was wrong and wholly unjustified, that didn’t happen but a quarter of a century later it must now happen, otherwise whatever we seek to achieve on legacy will continue to be built on sand,” he told the Press Association after the hearing, summarising the evidence he to MPs.

“There is a need to re-calibrate society now”.

Mr Donaldson added: “The Republic of Ireland state sought to portray itself as an onlooker to the problems of Northern Ireland, this is not accurate and there must be a sea change within that attitude, we seek a different level of commitment on these issues from the new government recently elected.

“There needs to be a much closer collaboration between the various jurisdictional governments on these issues, no innocent victim or survivor should be left behind.

“We believe that we have submitted alternative proposals around an investigative body being housed within the PSNI which are workable, fair, affordable and crucially can deliver outcomes for victims and survivors and we ask for this committee’s detailed consideration of those proposals and moreover, the UK government’s”.

In further comments to the News Letter yesterday about Seff’s evidence to MPs, Mr Donaldson said: “We were trying to convey to MPs was that for the last quarter of a century has been the emboldening of the Provisional republican movement, the IRA and its political wing Sinn Fein.”

Also on the Wednesday, the victims advocate Sandra Peake said that terrorists still engaged in violence could be emboldened by the UK government’s revised plans.

Ms Peake, who is CEO of the Wave trauma centre in Belfast, was scathing of the government’s handling of the legacy issue as she gave evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee.

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