Westminster committee calls for Sinn Fein to end ‘cruel’ delay in compensation for Troubles victims

The chairman of the NI Affairs Select Committee has written to Sinn Fein stating that the failure to deliver a pension for Troubles victims is “cruelly playing with their lives and hopes”.
Simon Hoare MPSimon Hoare MP
Simon Hoare MP

MP Simon Hoare relased the letter he has sent to Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill on behalf of the Committee describing saying the compensation is now “long overdue”.

The intervention comes following reports that Sinn Fein has refused to nominate a department to run the Troubles Permanent Disability Scheme while it calls for the eligibility criteria to be reopened. The scheme was due to open for claimants on May 29.

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In the letter to the Deputy First Minister, Simon Hoare urges Sinn Fein to “play its part in ensuring there is no further delay” in opening the programme to compensate victims and their families.

Mr Hoare writes: “The practical effect of delaying the opening of the TPDP Scheme is that victims and their families will be cruelly denied the compensation that they have campaigned for many years to secure and which they are owed.”

Secretary of State Brandon Lewis had been due this week to publish the latest draft guidelines on the Troubles pension, but it has been further delayed.

Sinn Féin said the guidelines shared with the party so far discriminate against former prisoners and are far removed from the legislation.

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The DUP and the Northern Ireland Office has accused Sinn Féin of blocking the pension payments by refusing to nominate the Justice Department to oversee the scheme.

Yesterday Prime Minister Boris Johnson said said he believed the pension was a “fair, balanced and proportionate way” of helping all those who suffered in the Troubles.

His comments came during prime minister’s questions, when DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson called on the government to push for the scheme to begin immediately.