Jim Allister: The lady chief justice failed to get a grip on the Kingsmills inquest - which has shown that legacy only delivers for Irish republicans

The Kingsmills inquest – the only one within the prominent legacy inquests into the murder of Protestants – has been handled abominably. The fact it has been running for years and lost the confidence of most families that they withdrew from it, points up the failure of the legacy process to deliver for anyone other than republicans.

Where was the Lady Chief Justice’s oversight that allowed this disgraceful situation to develop? The LCJ failed to get a grip on this inquest. Recently we had the added farce of secret evidence from a key player, the Garda, being buried and withheld. This will only further sap confidence. Imagine the outcry if police evidence was withheld in one of the scores of inquests into state killings, so beloved of republicans. But, it seems no insult was too low when it comes to the treatment of the Kingsmills families.

As for the Republic of Ireland(RoI) , this episode has underscored the useless provisions it has in place and its determination to do nothing to bring justice to IRA victims. The utter inadequacy of the RoI legislation provides the shield behind which the Dublin authorities are hiding and means in any future cases we can expect the same ‘non cooperation’.

Legacy inquests in general, because of their predominant focus on security force actions, have become a toxic tool in the rewriting of history. There are plenty of police and army records to be poured over while the perpetrators escape because of the secret shadows in which they operated and still take refuge.

Jim Allister KC MLA, Co Antrim